MILWAUKEE (AP) \u2014 The Milwaukee Brewers are making the types of mistakes at the plate that they avoided while producing the best regular-season record in the major leagues.<\/p>\n
No wonder they\u2019re leaving home facing a 2-0 deficit<\/a> against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to play better,\u201d Brewers designated hitter Christian Yelich said. \u201cIt\u2019s 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\u2019ve got to be better. We\u2019ve got to be better. It\u2019s just facts.\u201d<\/p>\n The Brewers ranked<\/a> second in the majors in on-base percentage (.332) and third in runs (806) and batting average (.258) while posting a franchise-best 97-65 regular-season record.<\/p>\n But they\u2019ve totaled just five hits through the first two games of this series and mustered only one run in each of them.<\/p>\n The Brewers got just two hits in a 2-1 Game 1 loss,<\/a> as two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell allowed one hit and no walks over eight shutout innings fo Los Angeles. They managed three hits Tuesday and fell 5-1 as Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched the first postseason complete game in eight years.<\/p>\n During the regular season, the Brewers had the best chase rate in the majors, meaning they swung at the lowest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone. But their inability to work counts the last two night allowed Los Angeles\u2019 starters to go deep into the games and prevented the Brewers from getting many shots at the Dodgers\u2019 vulnerable bullpen.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth those pitchers were as dominant as two pitchers have been,\u201d Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said. \u201cWe chased way more than we\u2019ve chased all year. We\u2019ve been the best in baseball at not chasing. These pitchers brought out the worst in us.\u201d<\/p>\n The most notable example came when Blake Treinen struck out Brice Turang swinging at a neck-high fastball with the bases loaded to end Game 1.<\/p>\n But the chasing was prevalent again Tuesday, allowing Yamamoto to pitch a complete game for the first time since entering the majors last season on a 12-year, $325 million contract.<\/a><\/p>\n Jackson Chourio homered on Yamamoto\u2019s first pitch to continue his impressive postseason. The 21-year-old already has four career postseason homers to tie a Brewers record he now shares with Orlando Arcia and Prince Fielder.<\/p>\n But the Brewers accomplished little else. Their only other hits were two-out singles by Brice Turang in the third inning and Sal Frelick in the fourth.<\/p>\n The lack of punch was particularly frustrating because the Brewers had knocked Yamamoto out in the first inning of a 9-1 victory<\/a> over the Dodgers the one time they faced him in the regular season. Yamamoto gave up five runs \u2014 three earned \u2014 and got only two outs in that July 7 game.<\/p>\n This time, the Brewers had no answers for him.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wasn\u2019t missing over the middle of the plate,\u201d Turang said. \u201cWe hit some balls hard but they were standing right there. Sometimes it\u2019s part of the game. He hit his spots.\u201d<\/p>\n Milwaukee\u2019s struggles are up and down the lineup thus far in the series.<\/p>\n Yelich, a three-time All-Star and the 2018 NL MVP, is 0 for 13 in his last four games. Two-time All-Star William Contreras and Andrew Vaughn each homered twice in the NL Division Series<\/a> against the Chicago Cubs, but both are hitless so far in this series.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to take batter at-bats,\u201d Chourio said through an interpreter. \u201cThat\u2019s where it begins. But you have to credit those guys. But we haven\u2019t had so much luck go our way. We have to stick with our plan and stick with process and hopefully change things around.\u201d<\/p>\n The Brewers remain confident they can turn this series around. They won all six regular-season matchups with the Dodgers, all in July. The Dodgers are playing much better now than they were then, but the Brewers realize they can show much more discipline at the plate than they\u2019ve displayed the last two nights.<\/p>\n \u201cYou guys might have us counted out,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cAnd I understand that \u2014 90% of the teams that have been in this situation don\u2019t win the series. But this team has been counted out a lot this year. And I think there\u2019s some fight left in them.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n