The Los Angeles Dodgers have a 2-0 lead in the NLCS with the series moving to Southern California. For that, they have their starting pitching to thank.
One day after Blake Snell posted eight historically dominant innings in Game 1, Yoshinobu Yamamoto did him one better with a complete game in a 5-1 Dodgers win. His final line: 9 innings, 3 hits allowed, 1 run, 1 walk and 7 strikeouts on 111 pitches.
It was his first complete game in MLB and a very well-timed one. It was also the Dodgers’ first in the postseason since 2004 (Jose Lima) and the first by any MLB pitcher in the postseason since 2017 (Justin Verlander).
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That kind of performance allowed the Dodgers to once again avoid fully exposing the biggest weakness of any team in the postseason: their bullpen. Yamamoto got all 27 outs despite allowing a leadoff homer to Jackson Chourio in the first Brewers at-bat of the night. From there, Yamamoto settled in and dominated.
On offense, the Dodgers took the Brewers down via some loud nibbles. Teoscar Hernández homered in the second inning to tie the game. Andy Pages doubled in another run that inning to take the lead. Max Muncy added a homer for an insurance run in the sixth. Shohei Ohtani singled in another run in the seventh, then Tommy Edman did the same in the eighth.
The Brewers have been creative with their pitching staff throughout this postseason, but the Dodgers have persistently made hard contact in both games of this series. Starting pitcher Freddy Peralta, the closest thing the Milwaukee staff has to a true ace, was supposed to be a reprieve, but the cracks kept showing at American Family Field.
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Now, the Brewers need to win two of three in L.A. to send this series back to Milwaukee. Game 3 is scheduled for 6:08 p.m. ET on Thursday at Dodger Stadium.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto had his pitches working this time
Yamamoto’s previous start wasn’t a disaster by any means, but it opened the Dodgers to their first and still only loss of the postseason. Tuesday night was a bit different.
Against the Philadelphia Phillies, Yamamoto notably struggled with his splitter. Of the 12 he threw, eight were outside the strike zone. The Phillies swung at only one of those. Of the four left inside the zone, the Phillies swung at all of them. Of the five total swings, none was a whiff, despite the pitch having an elite 42% whiff rate in the regular season.
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Against the Brewers, Yamamoto threw his splitter 34 times — his most of any pitch — and got eight whiffs on 20 swings, including the pitch that ended the game. That set up the bottom of the zone for Yamamoto’s fastball as well, and there’s just not much a lineup can do when the right-hander has his full arsenal working.
The Dodgers gave Yamamoto a pitcher-record $325 million before he had ever appeared in MLB, on the basis of the most dominant pitching stretch in Japanese baseball history and pitch data that screamed future ace. Nearly two seasons later, he is living up to the hype.
Max Muncy becomes Dodgers’ all-time postseason HR leader
Muncy has been a mainstay in the Dodgers’ lineup since 2017, making him the team’s longest-tenured position player (on a single tenure). And now he is the franchise’s all-time postseason home run leader.
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With two outs and a full count in the sixth inning Tuesday, Muncy crushed a 412-foot homer to push the Dodgers’ lead to two runs and break a tie with Justin Turner and Corey Seager for the Dodgers’ postseason home run record.
Muncy now leads the Dodgers with 14.
That home run was also a reversal of Game 1’s most infamous play, on which Muncy hit a bases-loaded fly ball to the wall and got a double play for his efforts, thanks to some catastrophically bad Dodgers baserunning and excellent Brewers defense. But there was nothing to screw up on this one.
Muncy has never been one of the Dodgers’ high-profile players, but he’s emblematic of what they do right. This is a player who signed with the Dodgers on a minor-league deal after getting cut by the Athletics, and he’s now one of their most productive postseason hitters ever.
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Here’s everything else that happened in Game 2.
NLCS Game 2 live blog
Follow along with Yahoo Sports for updates, highlights and more from Game 2 of the NLCS:
Live coverage is over70 updatesTue, October 14, 2025 at 7:09 PM CDT
Jason Owens
Jack Baer
Jason Owens
Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto have joined Orel Hershiser and Tim Belcher in Dodgers postseason lore with sterling starts to lead Los Angeles to a 2-0 NLCS lead.
Jason Owens
Yoshinobu Yamamoto has done it.
The Dodgers starter worked a 1-2-3 ninth to secure a complete game and pace Los Angeles in a 5-1 Game 2 victory. He retired Milwaukee’s final 14 batters for his first complete game with the Dodgers and the first postseason complete game by a Dodgers pitcher since José Lima in Game 3 of the 2004 NLDS. He needed 111 pitches to finish the job, and there was no drama from the Dodgers’ bullpen tonight.
That’s two gems in two starts from the Dodgers pitchers in the NLCS, after Blake Snell’s one-hit effort across eight innings in Game 1. The Dodgers head back to Los Angeles with a 2-0 series lead and a chance to close out the series at home.
Jason Owens
Grant Anderson induced an inning-ending double play from Teoscar Hernández on his second pitch to ended the bases-loaded jam with no further damage. But the Dodgers remain in control with a 5-1 lead.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is coming back out for the bottom of the ninth with a chance to throw a complete game.
Jason Owens
Milwaukee reliever Robert Gasser loaded the bases to start the top of the ninth. He struck Max Muncy out, but his night is done with one out in the ninth and the Dodgers threatening to extend their 5-1 lead.
Grant Anderson takes over to face Teoscar Hernández.
Jason Owens
Robert Gasser hit Mookie Betts on the left elbow on the first pitch of the ninth inning, and Betts recoiled in pain.
He took his base after a few moments. A scary moment with the Dodgers in control late, but Betts seems to be OK.
Jack Baer
Jack Baer
Jack Baer
Jack Baer
Yamamoto throws an efficient eighth. The Dodgers had the left-handed Anthony Banda warming, but they’ve got to let Yamamoto try to finish this, right?
Jack Baer
That might be our answer for how long Yamamoto is allowed to go, though Yamamoto just got the first two outs of the inning on seven pitches.
Jack Baer
Gasser strikes out Ohtani on three pitches to strand the bases loaded, but Los Angeles is still working with a four-run lead. Out comes Yamamoto, who probably stays in until the Brewers get multiple runners on base.
Jack Baer
Kiké Hernández walks and Andy Pages pops out, which sets up Shohei Ohtani with the bases loaded and two outs. Naturally, the Brewers bring in left-hander Robert Gasser to face him.
Ohtani has struggled this postseason but the Brewers are still treating him like the biggest threat in the Dodgers lineup.
Jack Baer
Jack Baer
The runners advanced on a Teoscar Hernández groundout, then Will Smith scores on a Tommy Edman single through the gap. The Dodgers now have runners on the corners with one out, with Kiké Hernández due up.
Jack Baer
Will Smith hits a leadoff bloop single, Max Muncy walks, and Brewers reliever Tobias Myers has the team in more trouble.
Jack Baer
The Dodgers starter has retired eight straight and is sitting at 89 pitches after seven innings. You’d imagine he goes out for the eighth with no argument, but how much would the Dodgers let him stretch to the distance?
He’s reached 100 pitches 11 times this season, including a 113-pitch outing against the Reds in the wild-card round. If the Brewers can’t get any traffic going, they could be setting up a complete game for the opposition. Unlike Blake Snell last night, Yamamoto also gets an extra day of rest before his next start in a potential Game 6.
Jack Baer
Ashby gets Freddie Freeman swinging for the third out, but the Brewers now have nine outs to get three runs. With Yoshinobu Yamamoto still at only 76 pitches, there’s some work to do.
Jack Baer
Jack Baer