Game 1 of the NLCS between the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers was always expected to be a pitcher's duel, what with Jacob Misiorowski, the frontrunner for the 2026 NL Cy Young award, and Tarik Skubal starting, respectively. This made every run that much more important. And in the end, it was the Brewers that clawed their way to just enough runs to earn an important 2-1 victory to take a 1-0 series lead.

In the top of the second inning, the Dodgers were off to a flying start. Shohei Ohtani walked and Teoscar Hernandez reached on a base hit to give them two runners on with no outs against the Brewers ace. Misiorowski rebounded to strike out Max Muncy before Andy Pages singled to drive in Ohtani, giving LA a 1-0 lead. Making matters worse, Kyle Tucker walked on the next plate appearance to load the bases.

The Dodgers had put Misiorowski on the ropes. And with Kiké Hernández coming on to the plate, it seemed like another big October moment was in the cards for him. However, the Brewers ace induced a ground ball from Hernandez, which resulted in an inning-ending double play.

It wasn't until the bottom of the fourth that the Brewers would tie the game courtesy of a leadoff solo shot from Brice Turang. And then in the fifth, Milwaukee's small-ball ways proved big once more, as they scored their second run, and the game's final one, after Luis Lara hit an RBI single to drive in Garrett Mitchell from second base, who only got there after a sac bunt moved him over 90 feet following a leadoff walk.

Article Continues Below

The Brewers' pitching corps would hold steady from there. There was a nervous moment in the ninth, with the Dodgers putting the go-ahead run on base against Trevor Megill after drawing two consecutive walks with two outs. Megill would then close out the game by getting Mookie Betts to fly out to the warning track in center field, sealing the win for Milwaukee.

Another big-time pitching matchup awaits in Game 2, which starts off at around 5:00 PM E.T. — with Logan Henderson starting for the Brewers opposite Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the Dodgers.