Brewers down Dodgers to extend playoff lead

LOS ANGELES — William Contreras homered and drove in three runs as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-4, to take a 2-0 lead in the National League Championship Series on Monday (Tuesday in Manila). The Brewers’ victory, powered by a Milwaukee bullpen that did not give up a single hit over five innings, left the back-to-back defending champion Dodgers with a mountain to climb to reach a third straight World Series. Hopes were high among Dodgers fans that starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Most Valuable Player of last year’s World Series, would get their team back on track in the best-of-seven series. But Yamamoto, who pitched complete games in last year’s NLCS showdown with the Brewers and in the World Series, did not even complete three innings. He was hooked after throwing 75 pitches to Milwaukee’s obdurate offense, giving up three runs on four hits. The Dodgers’ star batter Shohei Ohtani continued to misfire — now 3-for-20 in the playoffs, with no home run since August — but was not alone struggling against a near-perfect Milwaukee bullpen showing. “Our mentality is to stay focused. It doesn’t matter what the game state is, if we’re ahead, if we’re behind, we’re gonna stay on the...