MILWAUKEE — They don’t make pitchers’ duels like they used to.
The anticipation for the Tarik Skubal vs. Jacob Misiorowski matchup in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series lasted much longer than the matchup itself. The two pitched a combined 9⅓ innings on Sunday night, neither seeing the sixth inning.
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It wasn’t ineffectiveness that drove either from the game. It was pitch count caution and discretionary spending of bullpen resources that kept the duel from extending into prime time on the West Coast.
But the game turned on the Milwaukee Brewers’ ability to scratch out a second run against Skubal – and the Dodgers’ failure to do so against Misiorowski – and then make it stand up with 4⅔ scoreless innings from their bullpen, handing the Dodgers a 2-1 defeat in the series opener on Sunday night.
After beating the Brewers in their previous seven consecutive postseason games (one short of matching the postseason record), the Dodgers now find themselves trailing the best-of-seven series with right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Brewers rookie Logan Henderson lined up for Game 2 on Monday (2 p.m. PT).
If the moment wasn’t too big for Misiorowski, the strike zone often wasn’t big enough.
He started the second inning with six consecutive balls, walking Shohei Ohtani to set the wheels in motion for the Dodgers’ only run.
Teoscar Hernandez singled to right. After Max Muncy struck out, Andy Pages got a 100.4 mph fastball at the top of the zone and bounced it through the right side of the infield. Ohtani scored without a throw.
A 10-pitch walk of Kyle Tucker loaded the bases with one out but Kiké Hernandez bounced into a double play (one of three the Brewers turned in the first five innings).
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It took Misiorowski 35 pitches just to get through that inning and his workday was determined. The Dodgers put runners on base in each of the first five innings (the first batter in three of those) and drove Misiorowski out of the game by making him throw 94 pitches in 4⅓ innings.
For all the talk of Misiorowski’s triple-digit fastball, the Dodgers were not overwhelmed by it. They had just five swings-and-misses in the first four innings against his fastball, fouling off 15 of them to help drive up his pitch count.
But they hit into three double plays in the first five innings – none more costly than Kike’ Hernandez’s with the bases loaded – and went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position in the game. Through five games in this postseason, the Dodgers are 2 for 22 with runners in scoring position. Pages has both of those hits.
Skubal, meanwhile, seemed in total command – until he wasn’t.
He retired nine of the 10 Brewers he faced, striking out six. But he fell behind 2-and-0 to Brice Turang leading off the fourth inning and got just a little too much of the plate with a sinker at Brice Turang’s knees. Turang sent it over the wall in left-center field for one of those home runs that aren’t supposed to be part of their game.
An inning later, the Brewers took the lead with a more typical run for them. Garrett Mitchell drew a leadoff walk. Cooper Pratt bunted him to second and Luis Lara stroked an RBI single through the middle.
Skubal got out of the inning, stranding the bases loaded, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn’t send him back out for the sixth inning – the first time in eight career postseason starts that Skubal didn’t finish six innings.
The Dodgers’ offense couldn’t match that second run against the parade of Brewers relievers despite getting runners to first and third in the sixth inning and putting two on with two outs in the ninth against closer Trevor Megill.
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More to come on this story.