Milwaukee Brewers at Los Angeles Dodgers

By and large, the Dodgers know what to expect whenever Yoshinobu Yamamoto takes the mound. The same has not been true for Edwin Díaz in his first year in L.A. But on Friday night, both hurlers rose to the occasion. Yamamoto struck out nine across six innings of one-run ball in his latest strong start against the Brewers, and Díaz battled his command to close out a 3-1 victory that evened the four-game set at Dodger Stadium. The win moved L.A. (74-49) one game back of Milwaukee (75-48) for the best record in the National League. "It was a tough one," Díaz said. "But at the end of the day, I made my pitches, got the three outs, got the W. So that's the most important thing." It was mostly smooth sailing for Yamamoto, who held the Crew to one run on a Joey Ortiz sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. But the Brewers drove up Yamamoto's pitch count early, forcing him to throw 38 pitches through two innings. The right-hander grew more efficient as his outing went on and gave his team six strong innings on 97 pitches. "I was trying to be a little bit too fine," Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. "So after that inning, I kind of organized my mind, reset and kept going." The Dodgers' bats did just enough, with Mookie Betts hitting an RBI single in the first inning and Andy Pages and Tommy Edman slugging solo homers. Given Yamamoto's track record of handling the Brewers, it was all the offense L.A. needed. Yamamoto delivered one of his most iconic postseason performances against the Brewers in last year's NL Championship Series, going the distance for the first time as a Major Leaguer in Game 2 at American Family Field. In his return to Milwaukee on May 24, he tossed seven innings of one-run ball to help the Dodgers take two of three that series.