Yamamoto throws 3-hitter as Dodgers beat Brewers 5-1 for 2-0 lead in NLCS

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Relying on an old-school pitching strategy has the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers two wins from returning to the Fall Classic.

As long as their star-studded rotation can continue working deep into games, they don’t need to worry about their inconsistent bullpen.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a three-hitter for the first postseason complete game in eight years as the Dodgers beat the slumping Milwaukee Brewers 5-1 on Tuesday to extend their lead in the National League Championship Series. Yamamoto's gem in Game 2 came one night after two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell allowed one hit over eight shutout innings for a 2-1 victory.

“We said before this postseason started, our starting pitching was going to be what carried us,” said Max Muncy, who set a Dodgers record by hitting his 14th career postseason homer. “And so far it’s been exactly that.”

It's a dramatically different approach than the one the Dodgers took last year, when starting pitchers worked six innings in only two of their 16 postseason games. They have seven quality starts in eight playoff games this year, and their starters own a 1.54 postseason ERA.

That stellar pitching has the Dodgers closing in on another World Series berth even with the bullpen struggling and three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani going 2 for 25 at the plate over his last six games.

After winning nine of their last 11 regular-season games, the Dodgers are 7-1 in the postseason.

“Our entire team is playing the best baseball we’ve played all year,” manager Dave Roberts said. “The focus, the concentration level is at the highest, and we’re peaking at the right time.”

Teoscar Hernández also homered to help the Dodgers leave Milwaukee with a 2-0 advantage in the best-of-seven series, which shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Thursday. Yamamoto allowed a home run to Jackson Chourio on the first of his 111 pitches — 81 strikes — but shut down the Brewers the rest of the way.

The $325 million right-hander struck out seven and walked one during his first complete game in two major league seasons. He retired his final 14 batters and didn't give up a hit after the fourth inning.

“I reset my mind (after Chourio’s homer) and then I just focused on executing my own pitches,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter.

The previous postseason starter to go the distance was Justin Verlander when he tossed a five-hitter with 13 strikeouts for Houston against the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the 2017 ALCS on Oct. 14, 2017 — eight years ago to the day.

Yamamoto’s complete game was the first for Los Angeles since Gavin Stone’s four-hit shutout on June 26 last year at the Chicago White Sox. The last Dodgers pitcher to throw a complete game in the postseason was Jose Lima against St. Louis in Game 3 of their 2004 NL Division Series.

“I established my rhythm and then I dictated the tempo based off the game,” Yamamoto said. “So that was great.”

This is the first time since 1970 that both LCS road teams started 2-0. The Seattle Mariners own a 2-0 lead over Toronto in the ALCS heading into Game 3 on Wednesday in Seattle.

Twenty-four of the previous 27 teams that took the first two games on the road in a best-of-seven series with a 2-3-2 format have gone on to win. The three teams to come back after losing Games 1 and 2 at home all came in World Series: the 1985 Kansas City Royals against the St. Louis Cardinals, the 1986 New York Mets against the Boston Red Sox, and the 1996 New York Yankees against the Atlanta Braves.

“You guys might have us counted out,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “And I understand that 90% of the teams that have been in this situation don’t win the series. But this team has been counted out a lot this year. And I think there’s some fight left in them.”

The Brewers pulled out all the stops Tuesday as they tried to avoid that 2-0 deficit. Former slugger Eric Thames got on the field to exhort fans just before the game and popped open his jersey to reveal his bare chest.

Chourio then delighted a sellout crowd with his fourth career postseason homer, tying Orlando Arcia and Prince Fielder for the Brewers record. It was the fifth leadoff homer of this postseason, tying an MLB mark originally set in 2007.

That seemed like a foreboding start for Yamamoto, who lasted just two-thirds of an inning in a 9-1 loss the previous time he pitched in Milwaukee. But he bounced back and silenced the Brewers the rest of the way.

The NL Central champions, who led the majors with 97 wins during the regular season, have five hits in the series.

“We’ve just got to play better," said slugger Christian Yelich, who is 0 for 13 in his last four games. "It’s not an ideal start to the series, by any means. Just have to continue to battle and find a way to get the offense going. I’ve got to be better. We’ve got to be better. It’s just facts.”

Los Angeles became the first team to have consecutive postseason starts of at least eight innings in the same series since San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum did it in Games 4 and 5 of the 2010 World Series against Texas.

After Chourio’s homer, the Dodgers wasted no time coming back against Brewers ace Freddy Peralta.

Hernández, whose baserunning mistake contributed to the Brewers’ unusual 8-6-2 double play in Game 1, sent a 3-2 curve over the left-field wall for his fourth homer of this postseason. One out later, Kiké Hernández singled and scored on Andy Pages’ double.

Pages had been 1 for 27 in the postseason before delivering his shot into the right-field corner.

Muncy extended the lead to 3-1 with his two-out homer in the sixth, which came on Peralta’s 97th and final pitch. The Dodgers added two more runs on RBI singles by Ohtani in the seventh and Tommy Edman in the eighth.

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Los Angeles Dodgers' Max Muncy hits a home run during the sixth inning of Game 2 of baseball's National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Milwaukee Brewers fans react during the sixth inning in Game 2 of baseball's National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Enrique Hernández scores past Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras on a double by Andy Pages during the second inning in Game 2 of baseball's National League Championship Series, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws against the Milwaukee Brewers during the eighth inning in Game 2 of baseball's National League Championship Series, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto celebrates throwing a complete game against the Milwaukee Brewers, in Game 2 of baseball's National League Championship Series, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Teoscar Hernández celebrates his home run against the Milwaukee Brewers during the second inning in Game 2 of baseball's National League Championship Series, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Andy Pages doubles against the Milwaukee Brewers during the second inning in Game 2 of baseball's National League Championship Series, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta walks to the dugout after the top of the fifth inning in Game 2 of baseball's National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws against the Milwaukee Brewers during the fifth inning in Game 2 of baseball's National League Championship Series, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Two days after a deadly UPS plane disaster, a candlelight vigil was held Thursday in Louisville, Kentucky, to remember the victims and thank first responders, while teams still worked to find or identify people caught in the crash and subsequent firestorm.

“Our hope is that we have located all of the victims at this point. But again, we do not know,” Mayor Craig Greenberg said earlier in the day.

The inferno destroyed the enormous plane and spread to nearby businesses, killing at least 13 people, including a child and three UPS crew on the cargo hauler. No one expects to find survivors in the crash at UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub.

The plane had been cleared for takeoff Tuesday when a large fire developed in the left wing and an engine fell off, said Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.

Meanwhile, UPS Worldport operations resumed Wednesday night with its Next Day Air, or night sort, operation, spokesperson Jim Mayer said. All three runways at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport were also open again.

Teamsters Local 89, which represents UPS workers, hosted a candlelight vigil, which began with a moment of silence at 5:14 p.m., the approximate time of the crash two days earlier.

“This incident was so sudden, so unexpected," the mayor told the crowd of 200. “No one had a chance to say goodbye to any of those who we have lost.”

Greenberg disclosed that the death toll had risen to 13. UPS, meanwhile, released the names of three people who died in the plane: Capt. Richard Wartenberg, First Officer Lee Truitt and International Relief Officer Capt. Dana Diamond, all members of the Independent Pilots Association.

Bob Travis, a UPS pilot and the union’s president, told vigil attendees that the work of emergency responders, public officials and the community has been “absolutely overwhelming and amazing.”

“Everybody’s seen the video,” he said of the crash. “It’s hard not to.”

Earlier Thursday, Greenberg described the crash site as “horrific,” with “charred, mangled metal.” Part of the plane's tail, he said, appeared to be sticking out of a storage silo.

“You hear people say, ‘Oh, you only see that in the movies.’ This was worse than the movies,” Greenberg told reporters.

The plane's last data recordings showed it had reached an altitude of 475 feet (145 meters) and a speed of 210 mph (340 kph) before crashing just outside the Louisville airport, Inman said Thursday.

The engine's main component and pieces of engine fan blades were recovered from the airfield. Inman said UPS indicated that no maintenance work was performed before the flight “that would delay it in any way." He noted that investigators will look at video to see what, if anything, was being done around the MD-11 aircraft in preceding days.

The UPS package handling facility in Louisville is the company’s largest. The hub employs more than 20,000 people in the region, handles 300 flights daily and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour.

The crash and explosion caused even more blasts and destruction at businesses in an industrial corridor just outside the airport.

Sabit Aliyev, the owner of Kentucky Truck Parts and Service, still doesn't know if his business is standing. He said he was inside the shop Tuesday when the burning plane passed by, followed by an explosion. He went outside and recorded what sounded like another explosion.

“It was like hell,” Aliyev said. “There was fire all over. It was sky high.”

He and his workers fled over vacant land but were suddenly trapped by a high security fence until a police officer used bolt cutters to cut open a gate.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, said a number of things could have caused the fire as the 34-year-old plane was rolling down the runway.

“It could have been the engine partially coming off and ripping out fuel lines. Or it could have been a fuel leak igniting and then burning the engine off,” Guzzetti said.

Flight records show the UPS plane was on the ground in San Antonio from Sept. 3 to Oct. 18, but it was unclear what maintenance was performed.

“We will look at every piece of maintenance done, from the San Antonio time all the way to the date of the flight. ... It's going to be a laborious process," Inman of the NTSB said.

He said there was no reason to take any immediate safety actions against other MD-11 planes in service.

Associated Press writers John Raby in Cross Lanes, West Virginia; Ed White in Detroit; Travis Loller in Nashville, Tennessee; and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed.

UPS jets are parked at the Worldport package sorting complex at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

A plume of smoke rises from the site of a UPS cargo plane crash at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg speaks about the crash of UPS Flight 2976 at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Louisville, Ky.. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

CORRECTS FLIGHT NUMBER Mayor Craig Greenberg speaks at Louisville Regional Airport Authority about the crash of UPS Flight 2976 at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Plumes of smoke rise from the area of a UPS cargo plane crash at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

CORRECTS FLIGHT NUMBER The ATC tower is seen while smoke rises from the crash site of UPS Flight 2976 near Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)