Contreras delivers and Milwaukee's bullpen shines as Brewers top Dodgers to take 2-0 NLCS lead

Thanks to a couple of big swings from William Contreras, the Milwaukee Brewers need just a couple more wins to earn their first National League pennant and end the Los Angeles Dodgers' championship reign.

Contreras hit a tying homer in the fifth and singled home the go-ahead run an inning later as the Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-4 on Monday in Game 2 of the NL Championship Series.

Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby combined to retire the last 15 Dodgers batters in order to give Milwaukee a 2-0 lead over the two-time defending World Series champions in this best-of-seven series, which heads to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday.

"They're going against arguably one of the best teams in baseball ever put togther, and they don't care," said Brewers manager Pat Murphy, whose team was swept by Los Angeles in last year's NLCS. "They won't be denied. It starts with the dude behind the dish [Contreras]."

The Brewers are chasing their first World Series appearance in 1982, when they were in the American League.

Los Angeles is trying to become the first NL team to win three straight World Series. The Dodgers last rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win a series in 2020, when they beat the Atlanta Braves in a seven-game NLCS before going on to win the World Series.

"It's going to be a great series," said Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, whose error in the sixth inning led to the go-ahead run. "They know they've got a lot on their hands, too. We've just got to go out on Wednesday and play better."

The Dodgers will need more punch from their lineup to have a chance at getting back to the Fall Classic. They mustered just three hits Monday and went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position to drop to 2