Pat Murphy said the Brewers needed to be better prepared for the NLCS this time. Game 1 proved he meant it. With Jacob Misiorowski leading the way, Milwaukee played like the team with the best record in baseball, taking a 2-1 win over the Dodgers and an early lead in the series. Now Dave Roberts has to explain what went wrong.

“So, yeah, I mean, you can’t go into a long series against a team that has the best record in baseball and expect to just win four. It’s going to be a long series. We knew it coming in, and we had our chances,” said Dave Roberts, per MLB Network on X.

The Brewers won 2-1 behind Misiorowski’s strong pitching. Interestingly, the Brewers have a 5-5 record, batting at .213 in their last 10 games against the Dodgers.

“But they made plays, pitches when they needed to, and we just got to reset,” he continued. “We got our guy going tomorrow, who(m) we trust undoubtedly, and we got to win a baseball game.”

Last year, when the Dodgers faced the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS, it was a cakewalk for the defending World Series champions. The Dodgers swept the Brewers 4-0, winning the National League pennant.

But it was different this year, and manager Roberts knew winning was not going to be easy. Roberts indicated the same when he stated earlier that the Brewers were no David to the Dodgers’ Goliath.

On Sunday, Tarik Skubal and Jacob Misiorowski went head-to-head on the mound. Misiorowski threw 4.1 innings and issued 3 walks and 1 earned run on 5 hits. Meanwhile, Skubal pitched for 5 innings, allowing 2 runs, 2 walks, and 5 hits.

During the game, the Dodgers scored first. In the second inning, Misiorowski issued a leadoff walk to Shohei Ohtani, and Teoscar Hernández singled to put runners on first and second. In the next at-bat, Andy Pages drove in a run for the Dodgers as Ohtani scored. It was the Dodgers’ only scoring play of the game.

The Milwaukee Brewers did not break open the scoreboard until the fourth inning. Brice Turang took Skubal 384 feet deep to the left-center field, tying the game.

In the next inning, Luis Lara hit an RBI single to put the Brewers in the lead and ultimately win the game. After the Brewers pulled Misiorowski, their relief corps took over and stopped the Dodgers’ lineup from doing any real damage. They delivered 4.2 scoreless innings in relief.

Misiorowski is again lined up to pitch in Game 5 (if necessary), scheduled to be held at Dodger Stadium.

“It’s the same as the last outing I had against the Padres,” Misiorowski told MLB.com when asked about the Dodgers’ struggle with his fastball. “I think that was the same goal. Both teams did it really well. Last game, I kind of went away from my strategy going in, and this one I stuck with it and focused like, ‘OK, I’ve still got the heater. They’re not on it, but I’ve got to trust it.”

In Game 2, the Dodgers would aim to right the ship and level the series. Ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto will take the mound for the Dodgers.