The Los Angeles Dodgers are two wins away from the World Series — and Yoshinobu Yamamoto just made history in the process. The $325 million right-hander delivered a postseason masterpiece on Tuesday night, throwing a three-hitter in the Dodgers’ 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers to give Los Angeles a commanding 2-0 lead in the National League Championship Series. Yamamoto’s outing was the first complete game in any postseason since 2017 and the first for a Dodger since 2004.
It was a night to remember for the 26-year-old Japanese ace, who rebounded from his shortest career start — two-thirds of an inning the last time he pitched in Milwaukee — to silence a sellout crowd at American Family Field.
After giving up a leadoff home run to Brewers rookie Jackson Chourio on his very first pitch, Yamamoto locked in and dominated. He allowed no other runs, struck out seven, and walked only one across 111 pitches.
“After that first swing, I knew I had to reset,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter. “My team trusted me, and I wanted to finish what I started.”
The complete game was the first in MLB’s postseason since Justin Verlander’s five-hitter for the Houston Astros against the New York Yankees in the 2017 ALCS — exactly eight years ago to the day. It also marked the Dodgers’ first postseason complete game since Jose Lima’s “Lima Time” shutout of the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 3 of the 2004 NL Division Series.
Teoscar Hernández and Max Muncy provided the long-ball support for Yamamoto. Hernández quickly erased Milwaukee’s early momentum, sending a 3-2 curveball from Brewers ace Freddy Peralta into the left-field seats for his fourth homer of the postseason.
Two outs later, Kiké Hernández singled and scored on a double by rookie Andy Pages, who entered the night just 1-for-27 in the playoffs. That gave Los Angeles a 2-1 lead it would never relinquish.
In the sixth, Muncy launched a 412-foot solo homer to center off Peralta’s 97th and final pitch, breaking the Dodgers’ all-time postseason home run record with his 14th — surpassing Corey Seager and Justin Turner.
Shohei Ohtani and Tommy Edman added RBI singles in the seventh and eighth innings, padding the Dodgers’ lead and silencing a Brewers team that has struggled mightily to make contact.
This marks the first time since 1970 that both League Championship Series road teams have taken 2-0 series leads — with the Seattle Mariners also up 2-0 in the ALCS over the Toronto Blue Jays heading into Game 3 on Wednesday.
History is on Los Angeles’ side: 24 of the previous 27 teams to win the first two games on the road in a best-of-seven series with the 2-3-2 format have gone on to advance. The only exceptions came in World Series comebacks by the 1985 Royals, 1986 Mets, and 1996 Yankees.
The Brewers have managed just five hits in two games — a stunning statistic against the Dodgers’ dominant starting pitching. In Game 1, left-hander Blake Snell tossed eight innings of one-hit baseball in a 2-1 Los Angeles win.
According to MLB, the Dodgers are the first team to have consecutive postseason starts of at least eight innings in the same series since San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum did it in the 2010 World Series against Texas.
Milwaukee tried everything to fire up its crowd Tuesday, from former slugger Eric Thames’ shirtless pregame antics to Chourio’s leadoff blast, which tied him with Orlando Arcia and Prince Fielder for the Brewers’ postseason home run record. But after that electric start, the offense went cold.
The series now shifts to Dodger Stadium, where Los Angeles can clinch a World Series berth as soon as Friday. Game 3 is set for Thursday night, with rookie right-hander Bobby Miller expected to start for the Dodgers against Brewers lefty DL Hall.
As for Yamamoto, his gem not only puts the Dodgers in firm control of the NLCS — it may also have given them the confidence and momentum of a team destined for October glory.
“This is why we brought him here,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He showed what kind of pitcher he can be when everything’s on the line.”
