The Brewers showed how to beat Tarik Skubal

The Los Angeles Dodgers gave up a lot of prospects to acquire Tarik Skubal at the trade deadline.

And it paid off, as the left-hander was brilliant in the first game of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, pitching six innings, allowing one run on two hits while striking out seven batters.

This followed a string of excellent performances he'd put together since mid-August, during which he pitched into the sixth inning in eight of his last nine starts and allowed just one run over his last 13 innings.

But the man who is supposed to be the ace of a stacked rotation—having taken over the No. 1 starter role from Yoshinobu Yamamoto—didn't get the job done last night (Sunday) in the first game of the Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Skubal cruised through the first three innings, striking out six batters and allowing only a double to Andrew Vaughn among the first ten batters he faced.

Things started to get a little complicated in the fourth inning, however, when—with a 2-0 count—Skubal threw a 96 mph sinker to Bryce Turang on the inside half of the plate, and the Brewers hitter sent it over the left-center field fence for a home run.

Milwaukee then continued to put pressure on the 29-year-old in the fifth inning, with Garrett Mitchell leading off with a walk. Next, Cooper Pratt laid down a sacrifice bunt that put Mitchell in scoring position, and rookie Luis Lara hit a single to center field, allowing Mitchell to score.

After a groundout by Joey Ortiz, Jackson Chourio reached first base on an infield single, and Turang drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases.

The Brewers didn't score, but they put extreme pressure on Skubal, who left the mound after throwing 81 pitches and didn't return in the sixth inning.

That's the Brewers for you. They led Major League Baseball in walk rate (10.6%) and batting average (.258) this season, while also finishing third in the National League in sacrifice bunts (37) and eighth in contact rate (78.1%).

The Wisconsin team didn't change its offensive approach even when facing an ace pitcher like Skubal, and it paid off.

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