{"id":931080,"date":"2026-10-13T05:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T05:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/931080\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T05:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T05:02:09","slug":"contreras-steals-spotlight-as-brewers-take-2-0-lead-over-dodgers-in-nlcs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/931080\/","title":{"rendered":"Contreras steals spotlight as Brewers take 2-0 lead over Dodgers in NLCS"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILWAUKEE \u2014 For seven minutes in the third inning of Monday\u2019s game, Jake Bauers battled Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Brewers first baseman seemed to foul off everything, forcing his opponent to throw 12 pitches before drawing a walk to load the bases. But when he reflected on the confrontation a couple of hours later, Bauers said he got so locked in that it felt like the whole exchange lasted maybe 30 seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are certain times on a baseball field that you get so locked in that you lose yourself a little bit,\u201d he recalled. \u201cYou kind of forget what\u2019s going on around you. You\u2019re so focused on what\u2019s happening that it\u2019s all there is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a big league at-bat,\u201d shortstop Cooper Pratt added.<\/p>\n

On a night that featured many patient at-bats by the Brewers, no hitter exemplified their tenacious approach better than Bauers, whose walk set up a two-run single from the next batter, Christian Yelich. Thanks to those two and, of course, William Contreras<\/a>, the Brewers outshone the Dodgers to win 7-4 at American Family Field and take a commanding 2-0 lead in the NLCS.<\/p>\n

“The whole team right now really feels like they’re going through a good moment,” Contreras said. “(But) keep going. The goal is not to think about where we’re at.”<\/p>\n

After losing both games in Milwaukee, the two-time defending World Series winners must now win four of the next five games to return to baseball’s biggest stage. The Brewers, meanwhile, are just two wins away from advancing to the World Series for the first time since 1982.<\/p>\n

They may often be overlooked, but this was a 103-win Brewers team that\u2019s reached the playoffs eight of the past nine seasons. If anyone can unseat the Dodgers, it\u2019s them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI respect the Dodgers a great deal,\u201d said Brewers manager Pat Murphy. \u201cThat’s all there is to it. They’re arguably one of the best teams ever put together. They’re a great team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I’m not going to think about anything but the next game. That’s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Yamamoto starting for the Dodgers, the visitors had reason to hope they\u2019d head back home with the series tied. In 11 career playoff appearances entering Game 2, the right-hander had a 2.14 ERA and the Dodgers were 10-1 when he pitched.<\/p>\n

But the Brewers pushed Yamamoto\u2019s pitch count from the beginning, and last year’s World Series MVP was out of the game after just 2.2 innings, having allowed three runs on 75 pitches.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just didn’t have it tonight, which is very rare,\u201d Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged.<\/p>\n

But while Bauers and Yelich should be celebrated, the offensive star in this game was clearly Contreras. In the first, he drove home Brice Turang with a single. In the fifth, he tied the game with a no-doubt home run to centre. And in the sixth, he drove in the winning run with another single.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s the fire of our team,\u201d said Yelich. \u201cHe likes the big moments. We’ve got all the confidence in the world in him when he’s out there, whether that’s behind the plate or at the plate. It’s been fun to watch this postseason, and we\u2019re looking forward to more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Games like this elevate players to new levels of stardom, and new levels of fanfare. Between innings here in Milwaukee, they show the likes of Eric Thames and Manny Pina on the scoreboard with the caption \u2018Brewers legend.\u2019 If that\u2019s the threshold for legend status, Contreras has already reached it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis kid wants it,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cHe doesn’t believe in days off. He doesn’t believe in being injured. He played one year with a broken hand. And he wants to excel.”<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s underrated,\u201d Murphy continued. \u201cWhatever people think about him, he’s underrated. He’s that good.\u201d<\/p>\n

And when Milwaukee loses? What’s Contreras like then?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want to be next to him,\u201d reliever Abner Uribe said with a smile.<\/p>\n

While starter Logan Henderson wasn\u2019t especially effective, the Milwaukee bullpen recorded more outs than their starter for the second consecutive day. This time, it was Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Uribe and Aaron Ashby who combined for five perfect innings.<\/p>\n

Those Brewers relievers stifled a Dodgers offence that has only one extra-base hit through two games. Shohei Ohtani looks lost at the plate, Will Smith still can\u2019t get a ball to drop in and Teoscar Hernandez only managed a sacrifice fly upon being promoted to the No. 3 spot in the order.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t have an answer why,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI know that they’ve got good arms; so do we. I think they’re just finding ways to win pitches better than we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

So while the Brewers got a superstar performance from Contreras, the Dodgers have nothing to match. Set aside payroll, market size and everything else: series like this often come down to which superstars perform and which ones sputter.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers\u2019 best players simply aren\u2019t doing enough right now. For their run as baseball\u2019s champions to continue, that\u2019ll have to change immediately.<\/p>\n

After Game 2, the teams prepared to fly across the country to Los Angeles, where Robert Gasser\u2019s slated to face Blake Snell when the series resumes Wednesday. For the Dodgers, the pressure\u2019s on. For the Brewers, it\u2019s been building to this for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s big,\u201d Pratt said. \u201cGotta win two more, though.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE \u2014 For seven minutes in the third inning of Monday\u2019s game, Jake Bauers battled Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":931081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82],"class_list":["post-931080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}