opening game

MILWAUKEE — Blake Treinen’s first save of the postseason was hardly a memorable performance.

He threw more balls than strikes. He walked the first batter he faced and nearly hit the second. And he got the final out on a pitch that was well out of the strike zone.

But he did get the final out, preserving the Dodgers’ 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in the opening game of the National League Championship Series on Monday.

And for Treinen and the bullpen he’s supposed to be anchoring, that counts as major progress.

“We’ve been putting in a lot of work to try to get some things in a better place with myself,” Treinen said. “Today, I thought I executed almost every pitch.”

The fixes, he said, were simple mechanical tweaks that helped set up his pitches.

“Sometimes through catch-play and touching the mound a little bit, things start to click. And you’re kind of shocked at how a subtle tweak can change everything,” he said.

In the Dodgers’ World Series run last season, Treinen was as vicious as an ill-tempered Doberman, going 2-0 with three saves, a 2.19 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings.

This year, not so much. In his first four playoff appearances more batters got a hit than struck out and five of the 12 men he faced reached base. That followed a disastrous September in which he went 1-5 with a 9.64 ERA.

He wasn’t so much putting out fires as he was starting them. The poor performances began to build on one another.

“At times this year, when it hasn’t gone well, th[ings] can speed up a little bit in your mind,” he said. “That’s the hard part, to carry the thoughts and focus on what you’re good at.”

But manager Dave Roberts, who has had Treinen for the last five seasons, kept giving him chances to turn things around.

“I think the best way to for me to kind of view it is whether you’re a position player slumping or a pitcher maybe not getting the outs at the clip that you want, we all know what our abilities are,” Treinen said. “Dave’s seen me at my best and at my worst, and so when he calls my name, I’m grateful that he has confidence in me.

“And I have confidence that he’s putting me in situations for the team to win. So there’s a lot of peace in that.”

Treinen may have been at peace but he didn’t have much wiggle room when he replaced Roki Sasaki on the mound Monday with two out in the ninth and the Dodgers clinging to a one-run lead.

Sasaki, the team’s surprise playoff closer, had been lights out in the postseason, with just one of the 17 hitters he faced reaching base. Against the Brewers, he gave up two walks, a ground-rule double and a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the span of two outs. When Treinen entered, Milwaukee had the tying run on first and the winning run on third — and the right-hander immediately made things worse by walking William Contreras on six pitches to load the bases.

Treinen quickly got ahead of Brice Turang, the Brewers’ left-handed cleanup hitter, but courted disaster again when he sailed a 1-2 sweeper that nearly hit Turang. That would have forced in the tying run had Turang not instinctively danced out of the way, eliciting a groan from the sold-out crowd.

“It’s a natural reaction,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said. “When the ball is coming towards you, it’s a breaking ball, your natural reaction is to do that.

Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki delivers in the ninth inning against the Brewers in NLCS Game 1 on Monday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“It happens. He’ll learn from that situation. But it’s hard.”

For Treinen, whose only luck lately has been bad luck, the break was one he quickly cashed by getting Turang to chase the next pitch, which was head high, to end the game.

That swing brought equal measures of joy and relief for Treinen, who has supplied little of either for the Dodgers this postseason. This time, he said it felt good to finally be able to contribute.

“Our guys have been playing great baseball,” he said. “Our bats are doing a great job. Our starters have been amazing. So [I’m] just doing my job to finish the game.”

He also did his job in picking up Sasaki, the hero of the NL Division Series win over the Phillies, who stood to be the goat if the Dodgers lost Monday.

“Any time as a professional, when you have the ability to pick up your teammates, there’s a lot of pride in it,” Treinen said. “You just want to do your part because it’s a team game.

“I’ve certainly had guys pick me up this year. To have the opportunity to pick someone else up, it feels good.”

And it’s been a long time since Treinen has felt that.

E.C. Robinson turned 80 earlier this month. He was head coach at Locke High when Darian Hagen and Sirr Parker were standout City Section football players in the 1980s and 1990s. Then he went to coach at University.

Now one of his sons, Bryan, is head coach at University, with another son, Jason, the offensive coordinator, and he’s serving as a proud “consultant.”

Together, they’re trying to resurrect a University program that was down to less than 25 players three years ago. The roster has increased to more than 70, with the return of a junior varsity team, and the Robinsons are committed to “restoring pride” in the program.

University coach Bryan Robinson (left) and brother Jason Robinson, an assistant, with their father, 80-year-old EC Robinson, a former Locke and University coach.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

It’s a true Los Angeles story, with Bryan calling it “about homecoming, mentorship and generational impact.”

Like his father, Bryan became a teacher. He has been making frequent visits to Emerson Middle School, the feeder school for University, trying to convince students to come out for football.

When he was playing some 20 years ago, most of his classmates started in youth football. These days he must teach from scratch, showing kids how to put on shoulder pads, block and tackle.

“It’s not a lot of guys who’ve played,” he said. “It’s fun but also challenging. I get to instill all our football knowledge while they are raw.”

Bruce Davis, a former UCLA All-American linebacker who went on to win the Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers, is also on the coaching staff.

“My brother, coach Davis and I are big on development,” Bryan said. “We’re not just herding them out there. We’re really spending time fine-tuning these athletes, really developing them so they can compete on a higher level.

University quarterback Jeremy Pacheco (left) and defensive back Tareq Abdul.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

The team won its opening game against Lincoln 21-19, with junior Tareq Abdul making two interceptions and sophomore linebacker D’Elliott Jones contributing 12 tackles. Quarterback Jeremy Pacheco returned from a knee injury in 2024 to throw a touchdown pass.

This past week, University improved to 2-0 with a 19-8 win over Fremont. Abdul had another interception, returning it for a touchdown.

EC Robinson said the game has changed since the 1980s, when the focus was on running the football. Now passing is prominent, even in youth football.

He largely stays in the background, observing and offering advice when needed.

“I did a lot when they first got the job a couple years ago,” he said. “I wanted to make sure they were doing the right things with the kids. Paperwork is a big issue, making sure the kids are cleared. During the game, I monitor when you call a timeout. I’m trying to make sure they learn practice structure.”

It’s pretty fun when your father is serving as a mentor and is close by to answer questions about a game he has taught for decades.

As Bryan said, “We’re not just building a team — we’re restoring pride in a program with deep roots in Los Angeles football history.”

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Lin Chin-Tse retired the first 13 batters he faced and gave up just one hit in five innings as Taiwan beat Nevada 7-0 in the Little League World Series championship Sunday, ending a 29-year title drought for the Taiwanese.

Taiwan won its first LLWS since 1996, although its 18 titles are the most of any country beside the United States, including five straight from 1977 to 1981.

Lin, a 5-foot-8 right hander, also smashed a three-run triple in Taiwan’s five-run fifth. The 12-year-old from Taipei hit more than 80 mph with his fastball multiple times during the tournament, which to batters looks much faster because the plate in this level of baseball is only 46 feet away. His velocity looked much the same Sunday.

Taiwan’s Jian Zih-De celebrates in front of Nevada’s Luke D’Ambrosio during the second inning of Taiwan’s 7-0 victory in the Little League World Series championship game.

(Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

Lin’s longest start before Sunday was three innings in Taiwan’s opening game against Mexico. He gave up only one hit in a subsequent victory over Venezuela.

Garrett Gallegos broke up the perfect game with a single into left field in the fifth inning but was caught in a double play when Grayson Miranda lined out to second. Nevada was appearing in its first championship game.

Offensively, Taiwan capitalized on four wild pitches and a passed ball. Jian Zih-De worked a walk leading off the bottom of the second and later scored when he beat the throw home after the wild pitches.

Chen Shi-Rong scored Taiwan’s second run in the bottom of the third when he ran home on a Nevada throwing error to first base.

The last international team to win the tournament title was Japan in 2017.

On a night the Dodgers had a stadium-wide giveaway promotion for the anime show “Demon Slayer,” the club slayed a few recently troublesome demons of its own.

In the opening game of this season’s biggest series to date, they finally found a way not to trip over themselves.

By beating the San Diego Padres 3-2 at Dodger Stadium, the club moved back into a tie with the Padres for first place in the National League West.

They got six strong innings from Clayton Kershaw; plus, in a refreshing change of pace, plenty of crisp, clean defense behind him.

And though a lineup that lost Max Muncy to the injured list with an oblique strain before the game was largely contained by the Padres (who had to go with a bullpen game after scheduled starter Michael King was shelved with a shoulder injury), the Dodgers still managed to break their four-game losing streak thanks to their biggest weakness of late.

For the first time in what felt like several weeks, a scuffling bullpen finally didn’t cough up a late, narrow lead.

The Dodgers (69-53) came into this weekend’s rivalry series reeling in a way that once seemed impossible for this year’s $400-million team.

Since July 4, they were just 12-21. What had been a nine-game division lead then was transformed into a one-game deficit to the Padres, who came to Los Angeles riding high thanks to a monster trade deadline and a recent 14-3 streak.

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More dark clouds formed a few hours before first pitch when Muncy (who missed Wednesday’s game with side soreness) was placed on the injured list with a Grade 1 oblique strain, sidelining him for at least the next several weeks.

And though the Dodgers had taken five of seven games from the Padres (69-53) earlier this season, they suddenly felt more like an underdog now, searching for answers to their recently inconsistent offense, unsound fundamentals and untrustworthy bullpen (which had squandered five games in the past two weeks).

“I don’t like to be embarrassed. I don’t think our players do [either],” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “So this series, I’m expecting high intensity and high performance.”

The Dodgers delivered on both.

Kershaw set the tone, displaying a vintage demeanor even with his ever-diminished stuff. Before the game, he marched through the clubhouse and hunched over his locker, leafing through a scouting report while teammates carefully tip-toed around him. Between innings, he quietly paced in the dugout while avoiding almost any human contact. And when he was atop the mound, he pounded the strike zone and executed pitch after pitch, yielding his only run in the second inning when Ramón Laureano (one of several sizzling San Diego deadline acquisitions) clipped the outside of the left-field foul pole to open the scoring.

“There’s just no one more intense or focused than Clayton,” Roberts said. “He has a way of elevating people’s focus and play.”

It certainly appeared that way. Defensively, the Dodgers helped Kershaw out by turning several tough plays around the infield — from Freddie Freeman picking a ball in the dirt the second inning, to Alex Freeland and then Kershaw himself making tough plays in the third and fifth, respectively.

At the plate, the Dodgers also managed to capitalize on a bases-loaded, no-out opportunity in the third, after singles from Michael Conforto and Freeland were followed by a popped-up Miguel Rojas bunt that Padres third baseman Manny Machado couldn’t catch with a dive.

The Dodgers didn’t get another hit in the inning, but Shohei Ohtani drove in one run by beating out a potential double-play ball. Mookie Betts then added a go-ahead sacrifice fly.

The score remained 2-1 until Teoscar Hernández belted an opposite-field homer in the seventh, producing a massively important insurance run.

Then, it was up to the bullpen, which was asked to protect the kind of slim late-game lead they’ve squandered all too often during the team’s recent skid.

Dodgers relief pitcher Jack Dreyer celebrates after the final out of a 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Ben Casparius pitched a scoreless seventh inning, stranding a two-out double from Jackson Merrill.

Alex Vesia created a jam in the eighth by hitting two batters and loading the bases on a walk. But the Padres only managed one run, with Vesia getting Luis Arraez to hit a sacrifice fly before Blake Treinen came on and retired Manny Machado on a first-pitch pop-up.

In the ninth inning, surprisingly, Roberts didn’t stick with Treinen — who they’ve been wary of using for multiple innings as he continues to work his way back from an early-season elbow injury.

The move might’ve been questionable. But, at long last, the result didn’t backfire.

Alexis Díaz and Jack Dreyer pitched around a single from Merrill in the ninth.

The Dodgers finally held on to a late lead. And after spending the last 48 hours in second place, the team climbed back to the top of the division standings, exorcising the close-game demons that had so dauntingly haunted them over the last several weeks.