The Milwaukee Brewers limited the Los Angeles Dodgers to two runs and pulled off one of the greatest defensive plays in baseball history.

It wasn’t enough to beat Blake Snell.

The Dodgers ace held the Brewers to a single hit across eight innings to anchor a 2-1 Dodgers win in Game 1 of the NLCS Monday night. The only Milwaukee run of the game arrived courtesy of the Dodgers bullpen in the ninth inning after Snell had left the game.

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It added up to masterpiece from the two-time Cy Young winner, who’s now allowed two runs across three playoff starts and 21 innings in his postseason debut with the Dodgers.

With the win in Milwaukee, the Dodgers steal home-field advantage in the series in their bid to secure a second consecutive World Series championship.

Snell’s sterling night

Snell started the game with 1-2-3 frames in each of the first two innings. He allowed a leadoff single to Caleb Durbin in the third, then initiated a pickoff play to catch Durbin as he tried to steal second. Durbin was the only baserunner Snell allowed.

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Snell retired each baserunner he faced for the remainder of the game and faced the minimum thanks to the pickoff play that caught Durbin stealing. Snell caught Sal Frelick looking for his 10th strikeout of the game to end the eighth inning on his 103rd pitch, and his night was done.

When it was over, Snell had allowed the single hit to Durbin, walked none and faced 24 batters in eight shutout innings with 10 strikeouts.

Tense ninth inning after Snell’s exit

For the ninth inning, manager Dave Roberts called on rookie Roki Sasaki, who’s taken over a leverage bullpen role in the postseason after injury cut his regular season short. Sasaki allowed a run after putting runners on the corners with one out, then walked Christian Yelich with two outs to put runners on the corners again with a 2-1 lead.

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At that point, Sasaki was done. Roberts called upon veteran reliever Blake Treinen to secure the game’s final out. Treinen walked William Contreras to load the bases and bring up Brice Turang with the game in the balance. He then struck out Turang swinging with a high fastball on a 2-2 count to secure the Los Angeles win.

Sensational Brewers defense keeps game close

The Brewers countered Snell with a bullpen game that largely stifled a potent Dodgers lineup as six different pitchers combined to limit Los Angeles to seven hits and two runs. The pitching staff got some help from a sensational double-play in the fourth inning.

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With the bases loaded and one out, Max Muncy hit a deep fly ball to center field that bounced off of Frelick’s glove, off the outfield wall, then back into Frelick’s glove. It wasn’t a catch. Muncy was not out.

But Frelick and the Brewers defense ensured that no Dodgers would score on the play. Frelick fired a throw to the infield that resulted in a force-out of Teoscar Hernández at home. Catcher William Contreras then ran to third base with the ball for a force out of Will Smith, who had remained at second, unaware that Muncy wasn’t out.

It was a spectacular play that ensured that the game remained in a scoreless tie.

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And thanks largely to that play, the only Dodgers damage before the ninth inning arrived courtesy of reigning World Series MVP Freddie Freeman, who got the Dodgers on the board in the sixth.

Freddie Freeman breaks scoreless tie

Facing a full count with one out in the sixth, Freeman launched a Chad Patrick fastball over the right-field bullpen and into stands for a solo home run.

That was all the Dodgers would score until a bases-loaded walk of Mookie Betts in the ninth plated what turned out to be a critical insurance. An intentional walk of Shohei Ohtani set up the bases-loaded walk, which stood as the game-winning run.

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In the end, the Dodgers got a masterful performance from Snell and key plays from their lineup when they needed it most. And they avoided bullpen collapse thanks to Treinen’s game-inning strikeout.

The Dodgers and Brewers will run it back again Tuesday night (8:08 p.m. ET/TBS, TruTV, HBO Max) as Milwaukee looks to even up the series.