MILWAUKEE -- Yoshinobu Yamamoto watched as Jackson Chourio sent the first pitch he threw sailing into the visitors' bullpen in right field. As the Brewers' home crowd erupted in jubilation at their team's first lead of the series, it was reminiscent of the one other time Yamamoto had faced the Crew.
Three months earlier, Yamamoto didn't make it out of the first inning for the first time in his Major League career on July 7 at American Family Field. That night, the Brewers alternated between being aggressive early in counts and grinding out at-bats, drawing a pair of walks and notching four hits while ambushing Yamamoto for five runs (three earned) in two-thirds of an inning.
Unlike that prior start, Yamamoto did not let things speed up on him. His first start against the Brewers was the shortest of his big league career; he responded with his longest in Game 2 of the NL Championship Series: his first complete game as a Major Leaguer.
"Got punched in the mouth first pitch of the game. Good swing by him," catcher Will Smith said. "But to get 27 outs after that, that was impressive. What he did tonight, that was just domination."
Yamamoto matched the Brewers' aggression at the plate with some of his own, holding them scoreless across his final eight innings in a 5-1 win on Tuesday. One night after Blake Snell authored one of the greatest starts in Dodgers postseason history, Yamamoto continued the rotation's dominance with nine innings of one-run ball to give the Dodgers a commanding 2-0 series lead.
The Brewers thrive on putting pressure on opposing pitchers, but through two games in this NLCS, the Dodgers' starters have been in near-complete control.
"Contact's not a problem when you have good pitching, it's hard contact that's the problem. They're not giving up any of that,” Clayton Kershaw said. "Blake yesterday, they were swinging and missing. Good pitching beats good hitting any day of the week, and you're seeing that right now."
“Offensively, you've got to grind out at-bats,” added Brewers manager Pat Murphy. “That's been our forte. The ball-strike has been really at the core of our offensive success, and sometimes, great pitching brings out the worst in you.”
Yamamoto is the fourth pitcher in postseason history to give up a leadoff home run and throw a complete game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, joining Johnny Antonelli (1954 World Series Game 2), Johnny Beazley (1942 World Series Game 5) and Babe Adams (1909 World Series Game 5).
Of the four, only Yamamoto and Antonelli did not allow another run the rest of the way.
"That was the first hitter," Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. "And I feel regrettable, that home run, but I reset my mind and then I just focused on executing my own pitches."
It was the first complete game thrown by a Dodger in the postseason since José Lima shut out the Cardinals in Game 3 of the 2004 NLDS. Before Tuesday, the most recent complete game in the postseason was thrown by Justin Verlander in the 2017 ALCS. Yamamoto is the first Japanese-born player to throw a complete game in the MLB postseason.
Back in Japan, Yamamoto was already a bona fide star as a three-time winner of the Eiji Sawamura Award -- the NPB equivalent of the Cy Young -- and a three-time Pacific League MVP. His legend only continues to grow in his second season in the Majors.
"It's kind of scary to think that he's a three-time Cy Young winner over there, and he just comes over here and just keeps getting better," Kiké Hernández said. "It's been impressive to watch, and I'm just really proud of him."
Dating back to last year, Yamamoto has come alive on the postseason stage. But he stumbled in his previous start, giving up three runs in four-plus innings against the Phillies in Game 3 of the NL Division Series.
Six days later, with freshly dyed hair, Yamamoto struck out seven, walked one and scattered three hits across nine innings on 111 pitches. Similar to Snell the night before, he went heavier on his offspeed pitches. He threw his splitter the most, getting eight whiffs on the offering. He ramped up his curveball usage, throwing it 27 times, as frequently as he threw his four-seamer.
Yamamoto retired his final 14 hitters in order, punching out his last batter -- Andrew Vaughn -- to send the Brewers' faithful that had been so enthusiastic after Chourio's leadoff shot heading for the exits in subdued silence.
"Those guys take a lead, and we just don't panic," manager Dave Roberts said. "We keep taking our at-bats. And Yamamoto resets and manages that inning. … There's a lot of talent in the room. It speaks to character in the sense of whatever happens, it doesn't faze us."
As Yamamoto has emerged as the staff ace this year -- he was the only member of the rotation who did not miss a start -- Roberts has been willing to push him deeper into games. Yamamoto has only thrown 111 pitches or more two other times as a big leaguer: when he came one out shy of a no-hitter on Sept. 6 in Baltimore, and when he tossed 6 2/3 scoreless innings in Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series.
The Dodgers believe what Yamamoto has accomplished this year may just be the beginning.
"The more I've gotten to know him, the more I still think there's more in there," said Max Muncy, who became the Dodgers' all-time postseason home run leader. "And I think he thinks there's more in there too, which is really hard to say because he's been incredible this year."