William Contreras' continued postseason excellence helps Brewers overcome early errors in NLCS Game 2 win

The Milwaukee Brewers' victory in Game 1 of the NLCS was clean -- their win in Game 2 certainly wasn't. Early defensive miscues made what ended as a three-run victory for the Brew Crew a far closer contest for a majority of Monday night's game. However, in large part thanks to the postseason heroics of William Contreras, the Brewers were able to overcome their uncharacteristic early-game errors and build a commanding 2-0 series lead in their NLCS rematch with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The aforementioned defensive miscues were entirely the work of rookie right-hander Logan Henderson, who was making his second career postseason start after his playoff debut in the NLDS. Henderson's first misstep came in the top of the first inning. After issuing an ABS-aided leadoff walk to Mookie Betts, the Dodgers' leadoff hitter advanced to second base on a groundout to second base by Freddie Freeman. Facing Teoscar Hernández with one out, Henderson spiked a changeup that got away from Contreras, was ruled a wild pitch, and allowed Betts to advance to third base. That wild pitch therefore allowed Betts to score when Hernández skied a sacrifice fly to right field one pitch later.

Two innings after his consequential wild pitch, Henderson surrendered two consecutive singles to start the third frame. An impressive catch from Sal Frelick on a line drive to right field allowed Tommy Edman to advance to third base, giving the Dodgers runners on the corners with one out. Once again facing Hernández, Henderson attempted a pickoff move to first base, where Betts was taking a modest lead, but threw the ball away, allowing Edman to jog home from third and Betts to advance to second.

Disaster struck again in the fifth inning when after, allowing a leadoff double to Kyle Tucker, Henderson went to field a sacrifice bunt and overthrew Brice Turang, who was covering first base. The throwing error allowed Tucker to score, and Edman, who laid down the bunt, to advance to second base. A groundout to the right side and a sacrifice fly brought Edman home for the Dodgers' fourth run of the game.

However, even after all that, Los Angeles only led by one run when the book officially closed on Henderson in the top of the fifth inning, and thanks to the continued excellence of Contreras, that lead was gone by the bottom of the frame.

William Contreras homers, drives in three runs in Brewers' rollercoaster NLCS Game 2 win over Dodgers

Contreras' strong night at the plate didn't start in the fifth inning; rather, it started in the bottom of the first. After Brice Turang doubled in the Brewers' second at-bat against 2025 World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Contreras poked a single to left field that allowed Turang to score and quickly erased the lead the Dodgers built in the first inning. Interestingly enough, as reported by MLB.com's expert statistician Sarah Langs, it was the lowest pitch Contreras has ever collected a base hit on in his seven-year MLB career.

Contreras' biggest swing of the game, however, came in the fifth inning. After the Dodgers took a 1-0 lead thanks to Henderson's second throwing error of the night, Contreras turned on an 0-1 fastball from reliever Kris Bubic that was right down the heart of the plate and sent it 436 feet to center field. Contreras once again took his time trotting around the bases after his second game-tying hit of the night, and his third longball of this year's postseason.

The Brewers' catcher still wasn't done. With the game tied 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Contreras stepped to the plate with runners on the corners and one out. Facing tough right-hander Brock Stewart, Contreras jumped on a first-pitch hanging slider and dropped in front of Hernández in left field, allowing David Hamilton to jog home from third base. That RBI single ended up being the game-winning single for the Brewers, who won by a final score of 7-5.

While Contreras was clearly the MVP of the game, and of the Brewers' postseason run thus far, Milwaukee's Game 2 win required contributions from across their roster. David Hamilton was on base four times, stole two bases, and scored three of the Brewers' seven runs. Jake Bauers worked a 12-pitch at-bat that lasted nearly seven minutes and was a key reason why Yamamoto exited in the third inning after throwing 75 pitches. Christian Yelich was 2-for-4 with two RBI. The combination of Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe, and Aaron Ashby didn't surrender a single earned run across the final five innings. Ashby, just a day after covering two innings in Game 1, earned a five-out save, giving closer Trevor Megill an extra day of rest before Game 3 on Wednesday night.

Two wins, two incredibly different paths to get there for the Brewers in Games 1 and 2 of the NLCS. Whereas Game 1 seemed to indicate that the Brewers needed to play clean, flawless baseball in order to knock off the mighty Dodgers, Game 2 suggested they can win in a number of different ways. To pull off a victory after Henderson's frustrating day is momentum-building for the Brew Crew, who now head to Los Angeles with a commanding 2-0 series lead. Their resilient effort surely couldn't have happened without Contreras' latest addition to his impressive postseason resume.

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