Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws MLB’s first postseason complete game in 8 years to give Dodgers 2-0 lead against Brewers in NLCS

By Ben Morse, CNN

(CNN) — Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw MLB’s first complete game in the postseason in eight years as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday to take a 2-0 lead in the National League Championship Series (NLCS).

Yamamoto pitched all nine innings of Game 2 at American Family Field, striking out seven batters, giving up just three hits and walking one in the dominant 5-1 Dodgers victory.

It was the first complete game of the 27-year-old’s MLB career – regular season or playoffs – and the first seen in the MLB postseason since Justin Verlander in Game 2 of the 2017 ALCS. Yamamoto is also the first Japanese-born player to throw a complete game in the MLB postseason.

Yamamoto did give up a home run on his first pitch of Tuesday’s game to Jackson Chourio but recalibrated and didn’t allow another run throughout the rest of the contest.

“That was the first hitter,” Yamamoto told reporters afterwards through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “And I feel regrettable, that home run, but I reset my mind and then I just focused on executing my own pitches.”

He added: “I established my rhythm and then I dictated the tempo based off the game.”

Yamamoto became just the fourth pitcher to allow a leadoff home run and throw a complete game in postseason history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The Dodgers have ridden their aces through the first two games of the NLCS, with Blake Snell driving them to victory in Game 1.

Snell had a near-perfect performance against the Brewers on Monday across eight innings, making Snell and Yamamoto the first pair of teammates to deliver consecutive postseason starts of at least eight innings since San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto in 2016.

The pitching duo is also the first since 1983 to go at least eight innings and give up one or no runs in the opening two games of a postseason series, according to MLB.

Remarkably, LA has allowed just five hits so far this series. The team has tied the 1906 Cubs in the World Series for the second-fewest hits allowed in the first two games of a postseason series, per MLB.

“If you look at the construction of our roster currently, the strength is starting pitching,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Tuesday’s victory. “And when you can have your most talented pitchers get the most outs, then you’re in a good spot.”

While Yamamoto held down the fort, the Dodgers batters did the rest of the work.

Teoscar Hernández opened the scoring for LA with a solo shot in the top of the second inning to knot the game up at 1-1 before Andy Pages gave the Dodgers the lead for good one out later with an RBI double, scoring Enrique Hernández.

Max Muncy then hit a booming, 412-foot, solo home run at the top of the sixth, becoming the Dodgers’ all-time leading home run hitter in postseason history with 14. He had previously been tied with Corey Seager and Justin Turner for the franchise record.

“It means a lot to me,” Muncy said. “The Dodgers are a franchise that has been around for a very, very long time. A lot of very successful players have played in this organization. And to be able to break that record is kind of huge for me.”

Tuesday’s victory gives LA a two-game lead in the best-of-seven NLCS with a spot in the World Series on the line – and things don’t look good for Milwaukee. According to MLB, teams who go up 2-0 in a best-of-seven series have gone on to win 83.9% of the time (78 of 93 instances).

The NLCS now moves to the City of Angels with Game 3 set to be played on Thursday. Game 3 of the ALCS between the Seattle Mariners – who have a 2-0 lead in the series – and the Toronto Blue Jays takes place Wednesday at T-Mobile Park.

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