Dodgers' ace carves up the Brewers' offense in Game 1 loss

It's never a satisfying practice, but sometimes you just have to tip your cap. That's what the Milwaukee Brewers are left doing after their loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLCS. The recipient of said cap tips? Dodgers' starting pitcher Blake Snell.

Snell was masterful on the bump for the Dodgers tonight, facing the minimum number of hitters through his eight-inning gem. The only blemish was a third-inning single off the bat of Caleb Durbin, but just a few pitches later, Snell picked off the Brewers' third baseman at first base.

It was a heavy dose of changeups from Snell tonight, with the Dodgers' lefty constantly neutralizing the aggressive Milwaukee offense by locating several first-pitch changeups. In the end, Snell threw more changeups than any other pitch tonight, and generated a whopping 14 whiffs with it (Snell had a ridiculous 22 total whiffs tonight), according to Statcast. The 2x Cy Young Award winner allowed just two balls with an exit velocity of 96 mph or higher, and both were groundouts from William Contreras and Christian Yelich. He fooled the Brewers' hitters all night, racking up an impressive 10 strikeouts without walking a single batter.

Brewers fall to Blake Snell, Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLCS

With the ninth inning looming, and Snell surpassing the 100-pitch mark in the eighth, Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts had a tough decision to make. In the end, he took the ball out of his ace's hand and gave it to his rookie sensation, Roki Sasaki, who has been closing games for Los Angeles during the postseason and doing so in impressive fashion.

However, tonight was a different story for the young Sasaki.

After getting the first batter he faced, Durbin, to pop out on the infield, Sasaki walked Isaac Collins and then allowed a ground-rule double to pinch hitter Jake Bauers, putting the tying run on second base. After Jackson Chourio laced a sacrifice fly to the right-center gap and Sasaki walked Christian Yelich, giving the Brewers runners on the corners with two outs and a one-run deficit, Roberts went back to his bullpen, replacing Sasaki with veteran right-hander Blake Treinen.

Treinen walked William Contreras to load the bases, setting up a cinematic at-bat for Brice Turang. Despite nearly being hit in his back leg by one of Treinen's sweepers, Turang ultimately struck out on a fastball at his eyes, ending the game with the tying run standing just 90 feet away.

After a dominant performance from Snell, the fact that the Brewers even had a chance to pull off the win at the end of the game is impressive, but also makes the loss that much more difficult to stomach. With a Game 2 matchup featuring their ace, Freddy Peralta, on the horizon, the Brewers need to tie things up before the series heads to Los Angeles for three games in a row.