MILWAUKEE — The Los Angeles Dodgers are running out of room for mistakes, and some of the most consequential ones in Game 2 came from the dugout.
Dave Roberts’ pitching decisions became a central storyline Monday night as the Dodgers fell to the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-4, in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. The Dodgers now trail 0-2 in the best-of-seven series, facing an increasingly difficult path with the next three games scheduled at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers had opportunities to take control of the game, even overcoming an early deficit and briefly reclaiming the lead. But Roberts’ decision to turn to Kris Bubic for a matchup against Milwaukee’s right-handed William Contreras proved costly, and subsequent bullpen moves failed to contain the Brewers’ most dangerous hitter.
Contreras finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs, repeatedly punishing the Dodgers when it needed outs most. Meanwhile, Milwaukee’s No. 9 hitter, David Hamilton, went 2-for-3 and scored three runs, providing an unexpected spark at the bottom of the lineup.
For the Dodgers, the night began with Yoshinobu Yamamoto struggling to find his command and ended with an offense that had no answers for Milwaukee’s bullpen.
Yamamoto’s short outing put the Dodgers in an early hole
Yamamoto entered Game 2 with the responsibility of stabilizing a Dodgers team that had already surrendered home-field advantage in the series. Instead, his outing lasted just 2⅔ innings, leaving Roberts to navigate most of the night with a bullpen that would eventually be stretched by a series of difficult decisions.
Yamamoto allowed four hits and three runs, walked two batters and struck out one over 75 pitches. His pitch count climbed rapidly, particularly in the third inning, when the Brewers forced him to work through extended at-bats and traffic on the bases.
The Dodgers initially gave Yamamoto a lead in the first. Mookie Betts drew a leadoff walk, Freddie Freeman moved him to second with a groundout, and a wild pitch advanced Betts to third. Teoscar Hernández then lifted a sacrifice fly to put the Dodgers ahead, 1-0.
But the lead was short-lived.
Contreras answered with an RBI single over Max Muncy’s head to tie the game at 1-1. The at-bat was an early warning of what was to come: Milwaukee was making solid contact, forcing Yamamoto to labor and refusing to let the Dodgers’ starter settle into a rhythm.
The Dodgers regained the lead in the third, taking advantage of two Milwaukee defensive mistakes. Cooper Pratt booted a ground ball, and Logan Henderson followed with a throwing error that helped the Dodgers move ahead, 2-1.
The break was not enough to cover Yamamoto’s mounting struggles.
Jake Bauers won a 12-pitch battle to draw a walk and load the bases. On Yamamoto’s 75th pitch, Christian Yelich lined a two-run single into center field, putting Milwaukee ahead, 3-2, and ending his night.
Yamamoto threw 36 pitches in the third inning alone. Milwaukee swung 33 times against him and missed only four, a troubling indication of how often the Brewers were putting his pitches in play.
Roberts acknowledged that his starter was not at his best but suggested there was a consideration in allowing him to continue through the third.
“Wasn’t sharp, that Contreras at-bat really stressed him,” Roberts said. “Got to give him credit, the pitch count crept up and trying to think about maybe getting him through it.”
That decision left the Dodgers chasing the game early and forced Roberts to begin managing the bullpen much sooner than anticipated.
Roberts’ matchup gamble against Contreras backfires
The Dodgers managed to recover from Yamamoto’s exit, and for a brief stretch, it appeared they might escape with a chance to steal Game 2.
Henderson, meanwhile, continued to pitch effectively despite his problems defensively. His second throwing error came on a Tommy Edman bunt, allowing Kyle Tucker to score after a leadoff double. The mistake helped the Dodgers reclaim the lead, 4-3, in the fifth inning.
Freeman added a sacrifice fly to score Edman, whose foot reached the plate just before Contreras applied the tag.
It was hardly an offensive explosion. The Dodgers scored all four of their runs through two sacrifice flies and two Brewers’ errors, relying on situational opportunities rather than sustained production.
Still, they had the lead.
That advantage lasted only until Contreras came to the plate in the bottom half of the fifth. Facing Kris Bubic, the Milwaukee catcher launched a solo home run to tie the game at 4-4.
The home run put an immediate spotlight on Roberts’ preceding decision.
Roberts had elected not to send Roki Sasaki back out for a second inning, instead turning to Bubic because four of the next five Milwaukee hitters were left-handed. The matchup appeared favorable on paper, with Contreras representing the lone right-handed hitter in that stretch.
But Contreras made the decision look costly.
The Dodgers were not simply beaten by an unfavorable matchup. They were beaten by a hitter who was seeing the ball exceptionally well, and Roberts’ attempt to exploit handedness did not account for the immediate danger Contreras presented.
Bubic remained in the game after the home run but allowed a single and a walk with two outs, forcing another pitching change. Brock Stewart inherited the developing jam, and the situation quickly deteriorated.
In the sixth, Roberts intentionally walked Brice Turang to set up a matchup against Contreras.
It did not work.
Contreras lined a single to left field, driving in another run and giving Milwaukee a 5-4 lead. His third RBI of the night came against a Dodgers bullpen that had already cycled through multiple arms in an effort to find the right combination.
The sequence was damaging on two levels. Milwaukee reclaimed control of the scoreboard, and the Dodgers burned through valuable pitching options without finding a reliable way to neutralize the middle of the Brewers’ lineup.
Roberts had made a calculated series of moves. The problem was that Milwaukee's hitters kept winning the individual battles.
The Dodgers’ offense offered no response
Even after falling behind, the Dodgers had time to recover. But the offense never produced the sustained pressure necessary to make Milwaukee uncomfortable.
The Brewers added another run in the eighth when Turang lined an RBI single, extending the lead to 6-4. Then, tacked on an additional insurance run later in the inning, pushing the advantage to 7-4.
By then, the Dodgers had gone without a baserunner since the fifth inning.
Milwaukee’s bullpen took over and shut the door, combining for five perfect innings to finish the game. Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby kept the Dodgers off the bases while recording seven strikeouts collectively.
The middle of the Dodgers’ lineup went 0-for-20 with eight strikeouts, a brutal stretch for a team that needed its most productive hitters to respond after the Brewers took the lead.
The contrast was striking. The Dodgers manufactured four runs without producing a traditional offensive breakthrough, while Milwaukee capitalized on its opportunities and received dominant relief work when the game was on the line.
Roberts did not have an easy explanation for his team's continued struggles against the Brewers' pitching staff.
“We threw out three hits, some are the starters, some are the bullpen. I don’t have an answer, they have good arms,” he said.
That answer underscored a growing concern for the Dodgers. Their problems are not limited to a single pitching decision or one poorly timed swing. They are struggling to generate consistent offense against a Milwaukee staff that has repeatedly found ways to end innings before the Dodgers can build momentum.
Missed challenge adds to the frustration
The Dodgers also had moments when a challenge could have changed the course of an inning, including a missed ABS challenge by catcher Will Smith.
Roberts expressed frustration afterward, noting that he relies on his catchers to help make those decisions because of their view of the strike zone.
“I didn’t appreciate that,” Roberts said. “Will’s got a great view of that, you try to defer to your catchers for challenges. If you look back that changes the outing.”
The missed challenge added another layer to a night in which small decisions carried significant consequences. Yamamoto's extended third inning, the decision to use Bubic against Contreras, and the failure to stop Milwaukee's sixth-inning rally all contributed to the Dodgers' predicament.
Not every close call or bullpen move determines a game. But in a postseason series, the margin for error is narrow, and the Dodgers repeatedly found themselves on the wrong side of it.
Muncy: “There’s still a lot of series left”
Despite the disappointing result, the Dodgers are not conceding the series.
Muncy acknowledged the difficulty of falling behind two games but emphasized that the Dodgers still have an opportunity to change the narrative when the series moves home.
“There’s still a lot of series left,” Muncy said. “Obviously, you would like to come out here with one, hopefully two, but that wasn’t the case this time. They’re playing really well over there.”
The sentiment is understandable, but the challenge facing the Dodgers is substantial. They have lost the first two games, their offense has been largely neutralized, and their pitching staff has struggled to keep Milwaukee’s lineup from producing timely hits.
Game 2 also exposed the importance of execution in high-leverage moments. Yamamoto could not provide length, the bullpen matchup decisions did not deliver the expected results, and the offense failed to compensate once Milwaukee took control.
Roberts and the Dodgers will need a better plan, sharper execution and a more productive lineup if they hope to turn the series around.
Game 3 becomes a must-win moment
The series now shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday, with Blake Snell expected to take the ball for the Dodgers. Roberts anticipates that Snell will have extra motivation after the way his previous start unfolded.
The Dodgers have the talent and experience to make the series competitive, but they cannot afford another night in which their starting pitcher exits early, their bullpen is forced into difficult matchups and their offense disappears against elite relief pitching.
Milwaukee has done what a team with a 2-0 series lead needs to do: win its opportunities, capitalize on its opponent's mistakes and turn late innings into a formality.
For the Dodgers, the path forward begins with Snell. More importantly, it requires Roberts to make the right decisions when the game begins to turn and his team needs a stop.
After another frustrating loss, the Dodgers are no longer playing simply to regain control of the NLCS. It is playing to keep its season from slipping away.