How Milwaukee broke through against Tyler Glasnow after 10 straight outs

Tyler Glasnow retired the first 10 Brewers he faced in NLCS Game 4, six by strikeout. Over his final eight plate appearances, Milwaukee reached five times. Two walks preceded the hits that brought the Brewers back into a game Los Angeles had led 4-0.

The split was pronounced, but the shortage of swings and misses ran through the entire start. Glasnow generated three misses during those first 10 plate appearances and two thereafter. Called strikes helped him complete the early strikeouts. Later, a walk followed by consecutive doubles produced two runs in the fourth, and another walk preceded an RBI single in the fifth. He left after 79 pitches with one out and a runner aboard.

Four of Glasnow’s six strikeouts ended with the hitter taking strike three. William Contreras was called out on the eighth pitch of his first-inning plate appearance. In the third, Cooper Pratt fouled off four consecutive pitches before taking a sinker for strike three. Sal Frelick also went down looking at a sinker. All six strikeouts came in the first three innings.

Those were productive finishes, including outs after Milwaukee extended at-bats. Across the outing, however, the Brewers missed just five of 30 swings, a 16.7% miss rate. Glasnow’s 13 regular-season starts produced 149 misses on 486 swings, or 30.7%, using the same definition, which excludes foul tips.

The contrast helps explain why the six strikeouts need to be read alongside the rest of the pitch record. Glasnow threw 28 of 44 pitches for strikes against his first 10 hitters, or 63.6%. That fell to 17 of 35, or 48.6%, over his final eight, a stretch containing both walks. Called strikes had helped finish early at-bats; the later balls gave Milwaukee additional baserunners.

Jackson Chourio’s foul popup opened the fourth and completed the run of 10 outs. Brice Turang then walked on six pitches. Glasnow reached a full count with a fastball swing and miss, but his next fastball missed low. It was Milwaukee’s first baserunner.

Contreras drove a 96.0 mph four-seamer for a ground-rule double to left, hit at 108.4 mph. Jake Bauers followed with another ground-rule double, this one to right at 109.2 mph, scoring both runners. The two line drives turned the walk into the first run and immediately supplied a second.

Bauers’ plate appearance is the useful sequence to examine closely. Glasnow opened with a called knuckle curve, then reached 2-2 through a fastball ball, a knuckle-curve ball and a knuckle-curve foul. A sinker missed to fill the count. The sixth pitch, an 81.9 mph knuckle curve tracked near the middle of the zone, became the two-run double. Glasnow retired Christian Yelich and Garrett Mitchell on grounders to preserve a 4-2 lead.

After Pratt’s flyout began the fifth, Frelick walked on five pitches. All four balls were fastballs. Frelick stole second during David Hamilton’s plate appearance, and Hamilton grounded a 1-1 slider through the middle to score him. The walk had become a run without requiring extra-base contact.

Glasnow departed with Hamilton on first and the Dodgers ahead 4-3. Evan Phillips recorded an out, then intentionally walked Turang after throwing three balls and walked Contreras to load the bases. Alex Vesia’s four-pitch walk to Bauers forced Hamilton home.

That inherited run completed Glasnow’s official line: four earned runs in 4⅓ innings, with three hits, two walks and six strikeouts. Three runs scored while he pitched. The fourth required the bullpen’s subsequent walks, which makes Hamilton’s path home essential context for assessing the starter’s final line.

Glasnow threw 31 four-seamers and 22 sinkers, together accounting for 67.1% of his pitches against 56.0% during the regular season. Slider use fell from 17.8% to 8.9%. His four-seamer averaged 96.2 mph, above his 95.5 mph season average, and the pitch generated three misses on 18 swings.

The fastball speed also held across the start. His four-seamer averaged 96.1 mph against the first 10 hitters and 96.4 mph against the final eight. The evidence supports a specific account of the breakdown: walks created baserunners, and Milwaukee’s hardest elevated contact arrived together in the fourth. It does not establish fatigue or explain the repertoire decisions.