Level 1 - Absolute Beginner
The Milwaukee Brewers played the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday. It was Game 2 of a big baseball series. The Brewers won, 7 to 4.
William Contreras was the star. He hit a home run to make the score tied. Then he hit the ball again and a teammate ran home to make it 5 to 4.
The Brewers now win the series, two games to none. The next game is on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.
- series
- a group of games between the same two teams
- star
- the best player in a game
- home run
- a hit that lets a player run around all the bases
- tied
- with the same score
- teammate
- a player on your team
- score
- the number of points in a game
- won
- finished first in a game
- stadium
- a big place where sports are played
Level 2 - Elementary
The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7 to 4 on Monday, October 12, in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. They now lead the series two games to none.
The Dodgers took a 4 to 3 lead in the fifth inning. But catcher William Contreras hit a home run in the bottom of the same inning to tie the game. In the sixth inning he hit a single that sent home the run that put Milwaukee ahead.
Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto struggled. After that, four Brewers relievers got the last 15 Dodgers batters out in order. Game 3 is on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers are 0 and 2 in a postseason series for the first time since 2023.
- inning
- one part of a baseball game
- lead
- to be ahead of the other team
- catcher
- the player who stands behind home plate
- single
- a hit that lets the batter reach first base
- starter
- the pitcher who begins the game
- reliever
- a pitcher who comes in after the starter
- postseason
- the playoff games after the regular season
- struggle
- to have a hard time
Level 3 - Intermediate
William Contreras drove in the decisive runs as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7 to 4 in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday, October 12, at American Family Field. Milwaukee leads the best-of-seven series two games to none.
The Dodgers pushed ahead 4 to 3 with two runs in the fifth, but Contreras answered immediately with a tying home run in the bottom half. An inning later he singled home the go-ahead run, and the Brewers added insurance. Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto faltered and was chased from the game.
From there Milwaukee's bullpen took over. Four relievers retired the last 15 Dodgers batters in order, shutting down one of the most expensive lineups in baseball. Los Angeles is 0 and 2 in a postseason series for the first time since the 2023 division series, and the series moves to Dodger Stadium for Game 3 on Wednesday.
- decisive
- settling a result; deciding who wins
- drive in
- to cause a runner to score by hitting the ball
- best-of-seven
- a series won by the first team to win four games
- insurance run
- an extra run that makes a lead safer
- falter
- to lose strength or confidence
- bullpen
- the group of relief pitchers on a team
- retire
- in baseball, to get a batter out
- lineup
- the list of players who bat in a set order
Level 4 - Advanced
William Contreras did what a catcher with a lineup full of stars around him rarely gets credit for: he made the game turn on a single swing and then on a single at-bat. In Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday, October 12, his tying home run in the fifth and go-ahead single in the sixth carried the Milwaukee Brewers to a 7 to 4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers and a 2 to 0 lead in the series.
The Dodgers had seemed to seize control. Two runs in the fifth gave them a 4 to 3 edge and sent the Brewers scrambling, only for Contreras to erase the margin in the bottom half. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers' prized starter, could not stem the damage and departed in the middle of an unraveling.
What followed was the real separation. Four Milwaukee relievers retired the final 15 Dodgers hitters in order, a stretch of dominance that neutralized a lineup assembled at enormous expense. For Los Angeles, an 0 and 2 deficit in a postseason series is a first since the 2023 division series, and the burden now travels with them to Dodger Stadium, where Game 3 awaits on Wednesday.
- rarely
- not often
- seize
- to take hold of by force or quickly
- margin
- the amount by which one side is ahead
- stem
- to stop the flow of something
- unraveling
- the process of coming apart
- separation
- a gap that sets one side apart from the other
- neutralize
- to make something ineffective
- deficit
- the amount by which one side is behind
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