Brewers Notebook: Offense Breaks Out En Route to NLCS Game 2 Victory
Milwaukee now heads on the road needing two more wins to reach the World Series for only the second time in franchise history.
Going into Monday’s Game 2 NLCS matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Milwaukee Brewers had won four of the five postseason games that had played up to that point. But, they hadn’t exactly made it easy on themselves.
Of those five games, four were decided by just one run, including their Game 1 NLCS win over the Dodgers on Sunday. Their other game, the Game 4 NLDS clincher versus the Padres, was decided by a whole two runs.
Monday’s matchup finally broke that trend, but it took some work to get there. As has been the case with five of six playoff games now, Milwaukee’s opponent took the first lead, this time after Mookie Betts walked to lead off the game and eventually came around to score on Teoscar Hernandez’s sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.
William Contreras, who had three hits and three RBIs on the day, would promptly tie things up in the bottom of the inning and the teams would trade blows for the next four innings. When the dust settled, the score was knotted up at four runs apiece through five.
As has been tradition this postseason, it was the Brewers who would end up taking the lead and taking it for good when Contreras, naturally, hit an RBI single to drive in David Hamilton, who scored three runs on the day.
Milwaukee added two insurance runs in the eighth on RBI singles by Brice Turang and Jake Bauers to put the Brewers up 7-4. The Crew’s bullpen went on to close things out in their normal dominant fashion as they retired the final 15 L.A. batters to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
Contreras Joins Franchise History Books with Big Day on Offense
Since joining the Brewers back in 2023, Contreras has provided plenty of memorable moments for the Milwaukee fanbase. This year’s playoffs have been no different.
The slugging backstop leads all Brewers hitters this postseason in hits (9), home runs (3), slugging percentage (.783), and OPS (1.264). One of his biggest hits of the day on Sunday even tied one of his current teammates for a franchise record.
In the bottom of the fifth, Contreras hit an 0-1 pitch from Kris Bubic 436 feet to dead center to tie the game at four. It was the fifth postseason homer of Brewers career, tying teammate Jackson Chourio for the franchise lead. Chourio actually set the record in Game 1 of the NLDS just eight days prior.
“He was so significant tonight. Incredible,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after the game. “Forget even the offensive production, which was incredible. Four quality at-bats. But the defense and just calling the game, working with four or five different pitchers, whatever we threw out there. He does it every night.”
“This guy, he’s underrated,” Murphy continued. “Whatever people think about him, he’s underrated. He’s that good.”
Contreras was a solid player even before coming to Milwaukee, making the All-Star Game as a member of the Braves in 2022. He’s reached new levels with the Brewers, though, and credits the organization for getting him there.
“I think it’s the confidence that Milwaukee instilled in me from day one whenever they acquired me,” said Contreras. “I think going out there and letting me play the game that I do and letting me play the way that I do….just very appreciative to the organization for what they’ve been able to do. I think I’ve been able to have the best years of my career.”
Hamilton Provides Spark at the Plate and on the Basepaths
With the Brewers going from the lefty Tarik Skubal to the righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Murphy went with some matchup-based lineup changes. Out were Andrew Vaughn, Luis Lara, and Joey Ortiz, in were Christian Yelich, Sal Frelick, and Hamilton.
All three entrants to the lineup had their impact on the game, whether at the plate or in the field. Perhaps none left more fingerprints on the offense, though, than Hamilton.
The Brewers infielder had been light on game action before Monday’s game having garnered just four plate appearances in the team’s first five playoff games. He doubled that in Game 2 and made every pitch he saw count.
Hamilton reached base in all four of his plate appearances on the night, going 2-for-3 with two singles and a hit by pitch while also reaching on a fielder’s choice. He also wreaked havoc on the basepaths, stealing two bases and drawing a pickoff throw to first that resulted in an error and allowed him to advance.
“Hammy’s been doing that for us all year,” Bauers said after the game. “He finds a way on in big spots, and he’s such a good baserunner that he makes something happen with his legs. That’s such a huge piece for us at the 9 hole coming around to the top of the lineup, to be able to get on, steal bases, make things happen.”
Before the season, Murphy singled out Hamilton as the player he expected to take a “quantum leap,” similar to what he declared about Turang in 2024. While Hamilton may still be working on that full level of improvement, his contributions to the Brewers this season should not be overlooked.
Brewers Continue Trend of Self-Inflicted Wounds
For years, the Brewers have prided themselves on being one of the strongest defensive teams in the league. This year alone, the team committed the seventh fewest errors in baseball (74) while also tying for seventh in Outs Above Average (19) and tying for fourth in Defensive Runs Saved (62).
You might not know it by watching them in the playoffs.
Milwaukee has been uncharacteristically shaky on defense with seven errors over their six games and additional mental lapses that have allowed games to stay close. Sunday’s game against the Dodgers was yet another example.
While Brewers starter Logan Henderson pitched relatively well despite lasting just four innings, self-inflicted wounds led to the first three L.A. runs. A wild pitch in the first allowed Betts to reach third and eventually score, a throwing error on an attempted pickoff in the third let Tommy Edman score from third, and an airmailed throw to first on Edman’s fifth inning bunt scored Kyle Tucker from second.
“He put himself in that jam,” Murphy said afterward. “Then he throws the ball away to first on two different occasions, that’s three runs that you give him. That can’t happen, that just can’t happen. But I believe in him, and I believe he’ll correct it.”
Henderson might not have even had the opportunity to throw his errant pickoff attempt in the third if the normally surehanded shortstop Cooper Pratt had converted a groundball from Betts into a double play. Instead, the ball got past him after taking a big hop, but one that Pratt would likely say he should’ve fielded.
And yet, the Brewers have won all but one game this postseason, which makes it scary to think of what they might have accomplished had they played clean games in the field up to this point. Either way, they now head to Los Angeles with a commanding two-game lead in the series and all the momentum on their side.
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Matt Carroll is a writer for Just Baseball and former site expert at Reviewing the Brew. He studied journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and currently…