Turang Fixed His Swing Friday — Then His Bat and Glove Beat the Dodgers
GOATIFYBrice Turang entered the National League Championship Series with a swing he did not fully trust and a recent October record that made every at-bat feel heavier. Two nights before facing Tarik Skubal, Milwaukee's second baseman stayed late at the ballpark to work with hitting coach Daniel Vogelbach. The goal was modest: shorten the path of his hands, stay through the middle of the field and stop losing the barrel. By Sunday night, that adjustment had become the defining offensive moment of the Brewers' 2-1 win over the Dodgers.
Turang's fourth-inning homer tied Game 1, but treating it as a one-swing redemption story undersells the night. He also helped turn three double plays that prevented Los Angeles from cashing in on its traffic. Rookie Luis Lara supplied the decisive fifth-inning single, and four Milwaukee relievers protected a one-run advantage. Against a club chasing a third consecutive championship, the Brewers won with the exact mixture of preparation, defense and pressure that carried them to 103 regular-season victories.
The Friday cage session gave Turang a swing that could beat Skubal
Turang's work began with a problem that did not look especially dramatic from the outside. He had gone 2-for-16 against San Diego in the Division Series, and last October he managed one hit in 15 at-bats against the Dodgers. A player can have a superb regular season and still arrive at the biggest series with a tiny margin for error. In Turang's case, the remedy was not a new stance or an attempt to manufacture more power. It was a cleaner route to the baseball.
After the Brewers' Friday workout, Turang remained in the cage with Vogelbach, trying to keep his hands from dropping and cutting across the pitch. He wanted to drive the ball through the middle instead of yanking it. The session mattered because Skubal attacks hitters who become predictable: an inside fastball can handcuff a left-handed batter whose swing drifts away from the body. Turang needed a path compact enough to reach that pitch without sacrificing contact.
The first at-bat on Sunday was hardly encouraging. Turang fouled a ball off his knee, a painful reminder of how quickly a good plan can unravel. But when Skubal fell behind 2-0 to open the fourth, the next inside sinker became an opportunity rather than a trap. Turang kept the barrel inside the ball and drove it 384 feet to left-center. The swing tied the game 1-1 and ended the left-hander's early control of the Milwaukee lineup.
That outcome should not be mistaken for a sudden transformation into a pure slugger. Turang hit 21 home runs and drove in 100 during a 2026 season built on a much broader skill set. What made the homer unusual was the opponent, the count and the direction of the ball. He had struggled against left-handers historically, and Skubal had struck out six of the first ten Brewers he faced. One well-executed adjustment gave Milwaukee a run that the game's pitching conditions made unusually valuable.
Three double plays were as valuable as the home run
The most dangerous stretch for Milwaukee arrived before Turang's homer. Jacob Misiorowski needed 35 pitches to escape the second inning. Shohei Ohtani walked, Teoscar Hernández singled, Andy Pages brought home the first run and Kyle Tucker worked another walk to load the bases. With one out and the Dodgers threatening to build a lead that might have buried the Brewers against Skubal, the infield had to turn a routine grounder into two outs.
Cooper Pratt started the play on Kiké Hernández's ball and Turang supplied the relay to Jake Bauers. The exchange was quick enough to end the inning with the score only 1-0. That is the sort of moment a box score records as a double play but a series remembers as a missed chance. One more clean Dodgers hit could have changed both managers' pitching plans. Instead, Misiorowski was allowed to survive an inning that had pushed him close to the edge.
Turang's defense had already announced itself in the first. He ranged behind second to take away a Mookie Betts grounder, then helped complete an inning-ending double play on Will Smith's ball. In the fifth, after Misiorowski walked Betts and DL Hall entered, Turang again became the hinge of the inning: he moved left on Freddie Freeman's grounder, spun a throw to Pratt and watched the rookie finish another rally-killing turn.
Los Angeles grounded into three double plays and stranded nine runners. Those numbers reveal the hidden story behind a one-run game. Milwaukee's starter did not overpower the Dodgers for seven innings; he lasted 4 1/3. The Brewers had to make outs efficiently because their ace was burning pitches and the opposing lineup kept putting men aboard. Turang's glove provided the efficiency. The homer made the score even, but the double plays kept the score within reach long enough for it to matter.
Luis Lara finished a rally that started with a walk and a bunt
Milwaukee's winning run did not require a second homer. Skubal issued a leadoff walk to Garrett Mitchell in the fifth, putting speed on first base with the bottom of the order due. Pratt sacrificed Mitchell to second. Then Lara, a 21-year-old rookie who had gone hitless in his brief Division Series appearances, drove a single back through the middle to bring Mitchell home. The sequence was direct: accept the free base, move the runner and make contact when a single could change the game.
The simplicity is precisely why it was difficult for the Dodgers to prevent. Skubal was dominant for three innings, but Milwaukee forced him to work from the stretch and navigate a longer fifth. Jackson Chourio later reached and Turang drew a walk, loading the bases before William Contreras flied out. The Brewers did not turn that pressure into a crooked number. They did, however, force the ace out after five innings and take a lead their bullpen was built to defend.
That distinction matters in evaluating the game. A team that ranks among the league's least prolific home-run hitters cannot plan to beat an elite rotation by waiting for three-run blasts. Milwaukee's offense can still manufacture scoring chances through walks, sacrifice decisions and aggressive contact. Turang's power swing was the surprise; Lara's RBI was the familiar pattern. The combination was more threatening than either approach by itself.
Lara's moment also showed why the Brewers' young infield and outfield depth has become so important. Pratt did not need a highlight-reel hit to help win; he needed to execute a bunt and complete defensive turns. Lara did not need to swing for the fences; he needed a ball through the middle. In a postseason matchup featuring two Cy Young-caliber starters and several household-name hitters, Milwaukee's lesser-known players delivered the action that separated the clubs.
Four relievers turned a narrow lead into a series reset
Misiorowski did not give Milwaukee the length it wanted. The right-hander allowed one run on five hits, walked three and struck out five while needing 94 pitches to record 13 outs. A team that expects seven dominant innings from its ace might see that as an opening for the opponent. Milwaukee treated it as a handoff. Hall induced Freeman's double play to close the fifth, Abner Uribe escaped a sixth-inning threat, Aaron Ashby worked two scoreless innings and Trevor Megill took the ninth.
Across 4 2/3 innings, those four relievers allowed no runs. That performance followed a Division Series in which the Brewers bullpen permitted only one earned run in 19 innings against San Diego. The relievers are not simply a safety net for the rotation; in close games they are a central part of the run-prevention plan. Their ability to enter with traffic on the bases and avoid the extra-base hit lets Milwaukee play for a two-run total without feeling as if every lead is temporary.
The last three outs were not automatic. Megill walked Kyle Tucker and pinch-hitter Josue De Paula with two away, bringing Mookie Betts to the plate as the potential go-ahead run. Betts drove a fly ball toward center, where Mitchell tracked it near the warning track for the final out. It was a fitting finish for a night defined by defense: the Dodgers came within one swing of reversing the result, but Milwaukee converted the ball in play into the last out it needed.
Game 1 does not settle a best-of-seven series, especially against the defending champions. Los Angeles sends Yoshinobu Yamamoto against Logan Henderson in Game 2 on Monday, October 12. The Dodgers can point to their chances and expect their lineup to improve with runners aboard. Milwaukee can point to something more concrete: it beat Skubal without needing a perfect Misiorowski outing, and it erased the sting of last year's NLCS sweep with a victory. The question now is whether that combination of defense, contact and bullpen depth can survive repeated exposure to Los Angeles's stars.
Turang will rightly be remembered for the swing that cleared the left-center-field wall. But his best Game 1 contribution was broader than one ball leaving the park: he adjusted his approach, saved outs with his glove and helped keep a star-heavy opponent to one run. Milwaukee needed every part of that performance to win 2-1.
The Brewers lead the NLCS 1-0, not because the Dodgers suddenly became ordinary, but because Milwaukee made a tight game unfold on its own terms. If Turang keeps combining timely contact with elite defense, the late-night cage work could become the first chapter of a much bigger October story.
