Ups and downs of bullpenning on display as Brewers take Game 1

2:29 AM ET

MILWAUKEE — The aim of bullpenning is supposed to be to prevent runs, not generate them. Even when it comes to that, it seems the Milwaukee Brewers cannot follow convention.

Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw struggled to execute in Friday night’s Game 1 loss to the Brewers, according to manager Dave Roberts, but the Dodgers’ four errors and two passed balls didn’t help his cause.

A reliever stepping in against Clayton Kershaw? It sounds like a mismatch. But Milwaukee’s slugging pitcher took L.A.’s ace deep, and things got even wilder from there.

From the wild-card round through the World Series, we’ll have the 2018 postseason covered.

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Perhaps more than any team in postseason history, it was entirely appropriate that it was a middle reliever who sparked the euphoria that engulfed 43,615 fans at Miller Park on Friday and propelled the Brewers to a 6-5 series-opening win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. That middle man was a fastballing rookie “out-getter” they call “Woody” — Brandon Woodruff — who after one game of the National League Championship Series is the MVP of the round.

Woodruff rocked Brewtown in the third inning