Milwaukee • Extra innings, two outs and the winning run on third in Game 1 of the playoffs.
Short on playoff experience, the Milwaukee Brewers dealt for veteran Mike Moustakas over the summer to produce in just this kind of spot.
Good deal.
Moustakas scored MVP front-runner Christian Yelich with a two-out single in the 10th inning, and the Brewers bounced back to beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2 Thursday in their NL Division Series opener.
After giving up two runs in the ninth that made it 2-all, the Brewers regrouped and soon celebrated. Making their first postseason appearance since 2011, they won their ninth straight game overall.
Moustakas had already produced for Kansas City in October, hitting .304 in the 2015 World Series to help beat the Mets.
He’s doing it again in Milwaukee after being acquired from the Royals in late July.
“Being in a postseason a couple years back, it definitely helps,” Moustakas said.
Chants of “Mooose!” echoed around Miller Park after the winning hit.
Game 2 is Friday in Milwaukee with Colorado’s Tyler Anderson opposing Jhoulys Chacin, who led Milwaukee with 35 starts this year. He started Monday when the Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1 in the NL Central tiebreaker at Wrigley Field.
Yelich hit a two-run homer in the third inning, then opened the 10th with a walk against Adam Ottavino, coming back from an 0-2 count.
Yelich made his postseason debut, though the even-keeled star spoke as if he had been through this before.
“You’re just trying to slow the situation down ... find a way to get on and make something happen, put some pressure on him,” Yelich said. “And Moose was able to come through there at the end with the huge hit.”
Yelich advanced to second on a wild pitch and came home on Moustakas’ line drive to right field. After almost winning the Triple Crown this year, Yelich got two hits, scored twice and stole a base in his playoff debut.
Josh Hader and the Brewers allowed just one hit over eight innings in a dominant bullpen game and led 2-0 before Jeremy Jeffress gave up three straight singles to open the ninth. Charlie Blackmon grounded an RBI single shortly after his ground-rule double was overruled on replay review, and Nolan Arenado added a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to tie it.
But Colorado couldn’t come through in extras again after outlasting the Chicago Cubs 2-1 in 13 innings in the NL wild-card game on Tuesday.
“Everybody knows I throw a lot of sliders. In that spot, I wanted to elevate. I wanted to get a little higher than I got it,” Ottavino said. “I think I guessed what he was looking for wrong there.”
Joakim Soria picked up the win in the opener with a scoreless 10th.
Ryu shines for Dodgers
In Los Angeles, Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched seven dominant innings, Max Muncy hit an early, three-run homer and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 6-0 in their NL Division Series opener on Thursday night.
Picked a surprising Game 1 starter over fellow lefty Clayton Kershaw, Ryu delivered in his first postseason start since 2014. The South Korean allowed four singles — all with two outs — struck out eight and walked none.
The 31-year-old Ryu missed 3 1/2 months of the season with a groin strain and returned Aug. 15 to post a 1.88 ERA in 52 2/3 innings. Dodgers great Sandy Koufax was among those who gave Ryu a standing ovation as he walked to the dugout after his final pitch.
The Dodgers set franchise and National League records by hitting 235 homers during the regular season, and their tear continued with three more to begin their playoffs. The defending NL champions actually were outhit 6-5 by Atlanta, but the Braves only got singles.
Game 2 in the best-of-five matchup is Friday at Dodger Stadium, with Kershaw starting for Los Angeles against Anibal Sanchez.
The Braves have lost eight straight series openers in the postseason. They haven’t won a Game 1 since 2001 when they went on to sweep Houston in the NLDS.
Rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. struck out twice and went 0 for 4 as the Baby Braves were blanked. This was Atlanta’s first playoff appearance since 2013, when they lost to the Dodgers in four games.
Joc Pederson’s leading shot in the bottom of the first rattled Mike Foltynewicz in his postseason debut.
Foltynewicz gave up four runs and three hits in two innings. The right-hander struck out five and walked two. He got out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the first by striking out Yasiel Puig.
Foltynewicz found trouble again in the second.
With two outs, he hit Pederson and walked Justin Turner before Muncy sent a 1-0 pitch over the wall in center, making it 4-0.
Enrique Hernandez hit a solo shot with two outs in the sixth off Brad Brach. Pinch-hitter David Freese added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Ryu allowed a two-out single to Freddie Freeman in the first.
After that, he retired 12 consecutive batters before a pair of two-out singles to Ender Inciarte and former Dodger Charlie Culberson in the fifth. Puig charged in on pinch-hitter Kurt Suzuki’s fly to right field to end the inning. The Braves didn’t advance a runner past second base in the game.
Ryu gave up another two-out single to Ozzie Albies in the seventh. With fans on their feet waving blue towels and the crowd of 50,947 chanting his name, Ryu got Inciarte on a swinging strikeout to end the inning.
Relievers Caleb Ferguson, Alex Wood and Dylan Floro completed the combined six-hitter.
