The Los Angeles Dodgers wanted to send a message to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.
Mission accomplished.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto was simply amazing, throwing a complete game on 111 pitches as the Dodgers defeated the Brewers 5-1 at American Family Field. The Dodgers are now up 2-0 in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series with three straight games awaiting them at Dodger Stadium.
Dodgers fans will be out in full force, hoping that LA can seal the deal on home turf.
Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernández hit solo home runs and Shohei Ohtani had an RBI single to pace the Dodgers offense.
Yamamoto only allowed one run on three hits. The one run? Brewers leadoff hitter Jackson Chourio hit a home run on Yamamoto's first pitch, putting the Brewers up 1-0. But Teoscar had his solo homer in the top of the second and the Dodgers added another run in the frame for a 2-1 lead.
That was all she wrote for the Milwaukee offense.
Yamamoto was around the plate all night long and Brewers hitters just could not make solid contact.
Brewers starter Freddy Peralta went into the sixth inning before giving up Muncy's solo homer.
The Dodgers added runs later in the game.
But Tuesday night's story is really Yamamoto. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts might have thought about pulling Yamamoto after eight innings, possibly going to closer Roki Sasaki.
Not on Tuesday night. Whether it was Roberts believing in his starter or Yamamoto telling Roberts that he wanted to go the length, it didn't matter.
The Dodgers are on a mission to repeat as World Series champions.
They are two wins away from getting back into the Fall Classic.
For the Brewers, their backs are against the wall. Brewers manager Pat Murphy will have a day to figure out how his lineup will look in Thursday night's Game 3 at Dodger Stadium.
For the Dodgers, they are sitting pretty. This is the best result that Roberts and LA could have hoped for when going to Milwaukee. The Brewers had their fans cheering loudly in both games, but Milwaukee just couldn't seal the deal.
It's the Dodgers series at this point to win or lose.
The teams will take off Wednesday for a travel day back to the West Coast. Game 3 will be televised by TBS, truTV, and HBO Max.
Buckle up, Dodgers Nation. Your team is coming home.