Dodgers nearly crack Brewers ace then let Game 1 slip away

MILWAUKEE –– The Dodgers did almost everything right Sunday night.Key word: Almost.In Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, in a marquee pitching matchup between a reigning two-time Cy Young Award winner and this year’s presumptive recipient of such hardware, the Dodgers came in with a clear game plan against the Milwaukee Brewers and their young stud ace, Jacob Misiorowski.They wanted to stress Misiorowski’s pitch count by working tough, long at-bats.They wanted to shorten their swing against his 105 mph fastball and hit balls the other way.

They wanted to get him out of the game early and let their own ace, Tarik Skubal, pitch with a lead.On almost all accounts they were successful.Misiorowski threw 94 pitches to get 13 outs.

He gave up five hits, four of them to the opposite field.And he only managed to go 4 ⅓ innings, looking nothing like the Cy Young-caliber machine he was during the regular season.There was just one problem: From all that hard work, they only scored one run.Instead, in a 2-1 loss at American Family Field that put the Brewers in front to open this best-of-seven series, the Dodgers wasted chance after chance against Misiorowski and the Brewers’ stout bullpen, hitting into three double-plays, stranding nine men on base, and squandering an early lead en route to a Game 1 defeat.Granted, this series-opener was always more important for the Brewers –– who were trying to protect their home-field advantage, and needed to capitalize on Misiorowski’s start given the lack of star power in their rotation behind him.Still, the result will sting for the Dodgers –– after they seemingly had the game where they wanted it early, only to cede control with their costly string of missed opportunities.The Dodgers spent Saturday’s off-day workout prepping for Misiorowski’s unprecedented fastball velocity, using a drill Albert Pujols introduced to the team in 2021 –– in which they took swings against a velocity machine fr...