MILWAUKEE — A seven-minute, 12-pitch walk proved too much for Yoshinobu Yamamoto to overcome as Milwaukee rallied for a 7-4 win over Los Angeles in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series at American Family Field, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series behind a grueling 40-pitch third inning.
The breakthrough came with two outs and the bases loaded, when Christian Yelich punched a two-run, go-ahead single to center field on Yamamoto's 36th pitch of the inning and 75th pitch of the game. The hit was set up by Jake Bauers, who fouled off six consecutive two-strike pitches and took ball four on the 12th pitch of the at-bat, seven minutes and four seconds after it began. It tied for the most pitches in a plate appearance in Bauers' career, was the 12th walk of 12-plus pitches in the postseason since pitch counts were tracked in 1988, and was the longest plate appearance against Yamamoto in the majors.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy had second-guessed himself before the game for leaving Yelich out of the Game 1 lineup against left-hander Tarik Skubal, a decision that made baseball sense with lefty-masher Andrew Vaughn available — Vaughn doubled in Milwaukee's Game 1 win — but still lingered with the 67-year-old skipper. "I don't know if I'd do that again," Murphy said. "Yeli going the way he's going, it's a great statement for our team, and everybody recognizes here's our MVP, here's our guy that has done so much. And he stood there and was as good a teammate as you could ever believe, but in retrospect, I'm happy it happened, but I don't know that I'll do it again." Yelich delivered two pitches after Bauers' walk to give Milwaukee the lead before Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia ended the threat after Yamamoto had recorded eight outs.
The rally encapsulated how Milwaukee scored the second-most runs in the majors in the regular season with 832 while hitting the second-fewest home runs with 154. David Hamilton started the third with a single from the nine-hole and stole second for his first steal of the postseason after leading the club with 30 of its 162 steals in the regular season — only four teams stole more. Jackson Chourio lined out before Brice Turang, who had doubled and scored earlier after hitting a home run off Skubal the night before, drew a six-pitch walk on a cutter just outside that Yamamoto wanted catcher Will Smith to challenge. William Contreras flew out to bring up Bauers, who is in the midst of a breakout in his age-30 season and previously had a 12-pitch plate appearance in August against the Braves that ended with a home run.
For Milwaukee, now one of the final four teams for a second straight season, it was a breakthrough against Yamamoto. The Dodgers right-hander limited the Brewers to four baserunners in a complete-game victory in Game 2 of the 2025 NLCS at the same ballpark, then held them to two earned runs over 13 innings in two starts during the 2026 regular season.