{"id":494331,"date":"2026-10-13T05:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T05:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/494331\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T05:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T05:08:10","slug":"dodgers-will-consider-sitting-shohei-ohtani-after-game-2-nlcs-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/494331\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers will consider sitting Shohei Ohtani after Game 2 NLCS loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MILWAUKEE\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Mookie Betts<\/a> slapped his bat with his free hand after tipping a slider from Brewers right-hander Abner Uribe back into catcher William Contreras\u2019 mitt.<\/p>\n

Betts had been setting the tone for the Dodgers<\/a> from the leadoff spot all postseason, taking good at-bats against some of MLB\u2019s best starting pitchers. But there wasn\u2019t much he could do against a sinker-slider mix like Uribe\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Uribe shuffled off the mound, and the crowd at American Family Field roared.<\/p>\n

Then, with left-handed-hitting Freddie Freeman<\/a> coming to the plate, Milwaukee had an answer for him too. Manager Pat Murphy signaled to the bullpen, left-hander Aaron Ashby emerged and struck out Freeman on four pitches, only one of which touched the strike zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all throw 100 [mph] from different angles,\u201d Freeman said after the Dodgers\u2019 7-4 loss in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday.<\/p>\n

Those back-to-back strikeouts in the eighth inning were part of five perfect innings thrown by the Brewers\u2019 bullpen<\/a> \u2014 a postseason record. And the Dodgers\u2019 inability to rally against the Brewers\u2019 relievers, paired with the shortest start in Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a>\u2019s Dodgers career, sunk their chances of evening the series.<\/p>\n

The NLCS heads to Los Angeles with the Brewers leading 2-0 in the best-of-seven series. <\/p>\n

The Dodgers\u2019 performance against the Brewers\u2019 bullpen on Monday magnified how much the star-powered lineup hasn\u2019t been clicking with Shohei Ohtani struggling at the plate. He went 0 for 4 in the cleanup spot in Game 2, bringing his postseason total to three hits, all singles, in 20 at-bats.<\/p>\n

Manager Dave Roberts<\/a> told the Athletic after the game that he would \u201chave a conversation\u201d with Ohtani on Tuesday to determine \u201cwhat\u2019s best for him, what\u2019s best for [the team].\u201d<\/p>\n

Factoring into the decision of whether to bench Ohtani is an understanding that he likely is not completely healthy, according to a person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Ohtani has dealt with left knee and right biceps issues for much of the season. But it\u2019s been difficult since he returned from the injured list to determine whether health, bad swing habits caused by earlier injuries, or some combination of the two has been to blame for his poor performance.<\/p>\n

Ohtani hasn\u2019t addressed the media since the day before Game 1 of the division series. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough,\u201d Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> said. \u201cWe obviously need his help. He\u2019s a big, big part of this team, and it\u2019s really important. And I feel bad for him. I know what he\u2019s capable of. He\u2019s been dealing with some stuff in the past. We don\u2019t know if it\u2019s still there. But it\u2019s Shohei. Any moment he can come through.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game wasn\u2019t doomed, per se, when Yamamoto exited after 2\u2154 innings, but it was clear it would be an uphill battle for the Dodgers.<\/p>\n

Yamamoto stood on the same mound where a year ago he\u2019d thrown a complete game<\/a> and was pummeled by Brewers fans\u2019 chants:<\/p>\n

\u201cYel-li! Yel-li!\u201d<\/p>\n

As the fans celebrated Brewers captain Christian Yelich\u2019s two-run single for an early lead, Roberts emerged from the visiting dugout, ready to take the ball from the starter who\u2019d made himself a household name with his postseason heroics.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just didn\u2019t have it tonight, which is very rare,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

The two walks Yamamoto issued in the inning set up Yelich for a big at-bat. The first walk, to Brice Turang, included a borderline ball-four call. Yamamoto\u2019s hand flew up to the back of his hat like he was contemplating an ABS challenge, but neither he nor catcher Will Smith pulled the trigger. And the second, to Jake Bauers, lasted 12 pitches.<\/p>\n

The other run Yamamoto gave up, in the first inning, also included a missed opportunity for a challenge.<\/p>\n

Yamamoto struck out Jackson Chourio \u2014 whose leadoff home run last year was the lone run in Yamamoto\u2019s NLCS complete game \u2014 to open the frame.<\/p>\n

Then Turang worked a full count \u2014 although the first ball caught most of the low and outside corner \u2014 before he hit an opposite-field double.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of early in the game, we kind of had him on the ropes where we could just get him out there,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe walk one was a bummer but I guess it happens. It\u2019s baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next batter, William Contreras, fought off a low slider, poking it into shallow left field to tie the score.<\/p>\n

Against Brewers starter Logan Henderson, the Dodgers capitalized on a couple of errant throws by the pitcher, on a pickoff attempt and a sacrifice bunt, to contribute to two unearned runs, on a day when he gave up four runs in all.<\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez and Freeman hit sacrifice flies in the first and fifth innings, respectively. Freeman\u2019s came off former Dodger Dustin May, driving in a runner inherited from Henderson. And that was the most the Dodgers accomplished against the same relief corps that held them off the day before. They finished with three hits, their fewest in a playoff game since 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is a positive, you can say that a lot of our guys are starting to get looks at their back-end guys,\u201d third baseman Max Muncy said. \u201cBut when they\u2019re as good as they are, I don\u2019t know how much that helps. Unfortunately, that\u2019s the issue with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Dodgers are going to bounce back, they\u2019ll either have to figure out how to score against the Brewers\u2019 suffocating bullpen, or build early leads and maintain them.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The Dodgers were forced to throw seven relievers behind Yamamoto. In the fifth inning, with the Dodgers up 4-3, Roberts brought in left-hander Kris Bubic \u2014 replacing right-hander Roki Sasaki after a hitless inning \u2014 to face the left-handed-heavy heart of the order. But Bubic missed down the middle to the right-handed-hitting Contreras, who gave the fastball a ride over the center field wall, tying the score.<\/p>\n

In the sixth, against Dodgers right-hander Brock Stewart, Contreras drove in the go-ahead run in a traffic-filled inning that included a Freeman error on a muffed pickoff attempt. Left-hander Tanner Scott came to the rescue and struck out Bauers and Yelich to end the inning and Garrett Mitchell to kick off the seventh.<\/p>\n

The Brewers added insurance runs in the eighth inning with RBI singles by Turang off hard-throwing right-hander Edgardo Henriquez and Bauers against left-hander Justin Wrobleski.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys in here are really good at staying together,\u201d Betts said. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s much doubt going on. I think we just need to regroup and figure out what we need to do individually. But there\u2019s no doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Mookie Betts slapped his bat with his free hand after tipping a slider from Brewers right-hander Abner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[19405,192269,426,4203,163942,423,4468,48,52,51,5814,136533,47,50,49,192270,2668,10368,6133,687,18490],"class_list":["post-494331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-betts","tag-brewer-fan","tag-dodgers","tag-freddie-freeman","tag-full-count","tag-game","tag-inning","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lead","tag-logan-henderson","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-nlcs-loss","tag-run","tag-score","tag-tommy-edman","tag-walk","tag-yamamoto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}