Brewers Beat Dodgers 2-1 in NLCS Game 1 Behind Misiorowski and Bullpen The Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 in Game 1 of the NLCS at American Family Field. Jacob Misiorowski battled through 4 1/3 innings and the Brewers bullpen stranded multiple Dodgers runners to secure the win. The Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series at American Family Field on Saturday. The Brewers now lead the best-of-seven series 1-0. Dodgers Target Misiorowski VelocityJacob Misiorowski started for Milwaukee and threw 94 pitches to get 13 outs. He gave up five hits, four to the opposite field, and lasted only 4 1/3 innings. He did not look like the Cy Young-caliber pitcher he was during the regular season. The Dodgers came in with a clear game plan against Misiorowski.They wanted to stress his pitch count with long at-bats, shorten their swings against his 105 mph fastball, and hit balls the other way. They wanted to get him out early and by almost all accounts they succeeded. There was just one problem: from all that hard work, they only scored one run. The Dodgers wasted chance after chance, hitting into three double plays, stranding nine men on base, and squandering an early lead.The Dodgers spent Saturday's off-day workout preparing for Misiorowski's unprecedented velocity. They used a drill Albert Pujols introduced in 2021, taking swings against a velocity machine from several steps in front of home plate to calibrate their approach against his triple-digit heat. From the start, the strategy paid off. Just like against Braves ace Chris Sale in the NL Division Series, the Dodgers extended at-bats and created stress repeatedly.In the first inning, Freddie Freeman singled on a line drive the other way, though that was negated by a Will Smith inning-ending double play. In the second, a leadoff walk from Shohei Ohtani was followed by opposite-field singles from Teoscar Hernandez and Andy Pages. The latter opened the scoring and continued his recent turnaround this postseason. Kyle Tucker then battled to a 10-pitch walk that kept the rally going.Suddenly, with the bases loaded and Misiorowski nearing 40 pitches in the second inning alone, it appeared the Dodgers were on the verge of a knockout blow. It would not come to fruition. Kike Hernandez bounced into another double play that allowed Misiorowski to escape the danger.His pitch count continued to climb in the third when Mookie Betts hit a leadoff single, and in the fourth when Teoscar Hernandez hit a leadoff single and then was gifted second on a controversial balk call that negated a pick-off. But the Dodgers again failed to add to the lead. The trend quickly proved costly.After three dominant innings to start the game from Skubal, who struck out six of his first nine batters including three on three pitches, Brice Turang got a 2-0 sinker to lead off the fourth and deposited it in the Brewers left-field bullpen. The solo blast tied the game. It turned the momentum in a sold-out, yellow-towel-waving American Family Field.Brewers Rely On Small BallEven though Misiorowski would get just one out in the fifth before finally departing, his ability to limit the damage set the stage for the Brewers to take the lead. All around Milwaukee's home ballpark, signs have displayed the club's slogan for this October: Win Our Way. In the fifth, the Brewers showed what that meant. The club's small-ball offense put its identity on display.Garrett Mitchell drew a leadoff walk. Cooper Pratt bunted him to second.Then, with a short swing on a hanging first-pitch changeup, Luis Lara bounced an RBI single back up the middle. It was something out of seemingly nothing. It was a reminder of how the Brewers, with their bottom-10 payroll of $123 million, ranked second in the majors in scoring this year despite hitting the second-fewest number of home runs.Milwaukee almost broke the game open after that, later loading the bases with two outs while inflicting their own damage on Skubal's pitch count. Though Skubal would get out of it, the lone run would prove to be enough. Skubal did not return for the sixth, removed after 80 pitches in the shortest start of his postseason career.Relievers Protect Narrow LeadFour Brewers relievers, meanwhile, would make the 2-1 lead stand up, stranding more runners in the fifth on a Freeman inning-ending double play. In the sixth, Pages struck out against Abner Uribe with runners on the corners. In the eighth, Will Smith paused his 1-for-19 playoff slump with a wasted walk. In the ninth, closer Trevor Megill walked two batters with the bases loaded before finally ending the game on a flyout from Betts.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. 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.In the end, it was Milwaukee that executed its game plan more clinically, drawing first blood in an NLCS rematch that already looks nothing like last year's Dodgers sweep.