One year after they were unceremoniously swept by the Dodgers in the NLCS, the Brewers thrilled fans in Milwaukee, landing the first blow in the best-of-seven series that will send the winner to the World Series.
The Dodgers are chasing a rare World Series three-peat. But the Brewers, who led Major League Baseball with 103 regular-season wins, showed they don't plan on going quietly this year as they seek to return to the championship showcase for just the second time, 44 years after their 1982 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The game was billed as a duel between the Dodgers' two-time Cy Young Award-winner Tarik Skubal and the Brewers' flame-throwing ace Jacob Misiorowski, but neither pitcher made it to the sixth inning.
The Dodgers wore down a sometimes shaky Misiorowski but were rewarded with just one run against him in the second inning.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani walked on four pitches to open the frame, advanced to second on a Teoscar Hernandez single and scored on a one-out single from Andy Pages.
Kyle Tucker worked a walk in a 10-pitch at-bat to load the bases. But Enrique Hernandez hit into a double play and Misiorowski escaped the inning without further damage.
"I didn't think I had my best stuff," Misiorowski said. "Obviously good enough to make it work. Props to my defense behind me and all the support they gave me."
Turang, who had fouled a ball of his knee in his prior at-bat, said he was trying to avoid a repeat when he delivered his second career postseason homer.
"I was like I'm going to stay inside of this one. Not try to do too much, just drive back up the middle and get inside of it. I just got it... sometimes less is more."
One inning later, Lara put the Brewers ahead. Garrett Mitchell had walked to open the bottom of the fifth and reached second on a sacrifice bunt from Cooper Pratt before Lara cracked a ball up the middle that allowed Mitchell to score.
Garrett Mitchell had walked to open the inning and reached second on a sacrifice bunt from Cooper Pratt before Lara cracked a ball up the middle that allowed Mitchell to score.
"That bullpen really showed up today and did amazing," Misiorowski said. "And then just the guys laying down a sac bunt to get a guy over and a clutch base hit by Lara -- just, you know, our way."
The Dodgers threatened with two outs in the ninth as Brewers closer Trevor Megill issued walks to Tucker and Josue De Paula, but Mookie Betts lofted a high fly caught for the last out.
The Brewers will try to double their advantage when they host game two on Monday.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who will send 2025 World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the mound, said that despite last year's dominant sweep of the Brewers, the Dodgers are ready to grind.
"It's going to be a long series," he said.
"We knew it coming in. We had our chances, but they made plays, pitches when they needed to.
"We've just got to reset. We've got our guy (Yamamoto) going tomorrow, who we trust undoubtedly, and we've got to win a baseball game."