MILWAUKEE (Interstat) — Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered a masterful complete-game performance, and the Los Angeles Dodgers methodically pulled away from the Milwaukee Brewers for a 5-1 victory on Tuesday night in Game 2 of their National League playoff series.

A crowd of 41,427 at American Family Field watched as the Dodgers, capitalizing on a two-run second inning and steady offensive pressure, seized a commanding two-games-to-none lead in the best-of-seven series. The scene now shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Thursday.

Yamamoto was the story of the night, silencing a Brewers lineup that managed just three hits over his nine dominant innings. The right-hander allowed one earned run, a solo home run to Jackson Chourio in the very first inning, and finished with seven strikeouts and no walks. He needed just 108 pitches to secure his first complete game of the 2025 postseason, improving his record to 14-9.

“He was just phenomenal,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts would have said, had quotes been permitted. “After that first-inning homer, he settled in and was in complete control. That’s the Yoshinobu we know.”

The Brewers struck first, with the 21-year-old Chourio launching Yamamoto’s offering to right-center field for a 1-0 lead. The early advantage was short-lived, however, as the Dodgers’ potent offense quickly responded against Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta.

Los Angeles evened the score in the top of the second when Teoscar Hernández crushed a solo home run, his fourth of the postseason, deep to left field. The Dodgers weren’t done. Enrique Hernández followed with a single, and then rookie Andy Pages laced a double to right field, scoring Hernández to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

Peralta, who took the loss to fall to 18-8, battled through 5 2/3 innings but was never fully comfortable. He surrendered three earned runs on five hits, walking one and striking out four. The Dodgers extended their lead to 3-1 in the sixth when Max Muncy led off the inning with a towering solo home run to center field, chasing Peralta from the game.

The Dodgers’ relentless attack continued against the Brewers’ bullpen. In the seventh, Enrique Hernández doubled and later scored on a sharp RBI single by Shohei Ohtani, making it 4-1. Los Angeles added an insurance run in the eighth on an RBI single from Tommy Edman that plated Will Smith, who had singled earlier in the inning.

Milwaukee’s offense, meanwhile, was utterly stymied by Yamamoto after Chourio’s early blast. The Brewers only mustered two other singles, one from Brice Turang in the third and another from Sal Frelick in the fourth. Yamamoto retired the final 16 batters he faced, a stretch of dominance that sucked the energy from the home crowd.

The Brewers’ relief corps had mixed results. Robert Gasser, Grant Anderson and Aaron Ashby combined for 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, but Abner Uribe was touched for a run in his 0.2 innings of work.

With the victory, the Dodgers improved to 100-70 across all competitions this season. The Brewers, facing a must-win situation when the series resumes at Dodger Stadium, fell to 100-69.

The game, which lasted 2 hours and 51 minutes, defied some pregame projections. Interstat’s game simulator had projected a higher-scoring affair, forecasting an 8-5 Dodgers win. Their ELO system also gave the Brewers a 51.9 percent probability of victory, and the total score of 6 fell under the over/under line of 7, despite the Dodgers having been installed as a -1.5 run favorite.

The Dodgers have now won six of their last seven games and will look to take a stranglehold on the series when it continues in Los Angeles. The Brewers, who won the season series against the Dodgers during the regular campaign, must find a way to solve the Dodgers’ pitching and awaken their own bats to avoid a deep series deficit.