Brewers Beat Dodgers 6-2 in NLCS Game 3, Take 3-0 Series Lead
Back-to-back seventh-inning home runs from Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead at Dodger Stadium, and Milwaukee closed out a 6-2 Game 3 win that left the two-time defending champion Dodgers one loss from elimination.
LOS ANGELES — The Milwaukee Brewers are one win from the World Series. Back-to-back home runs by Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell in the seventh inning turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead, and Milwaukee beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday night. The win gave the Brewers a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Jackson Chourio opened the game with a first-pitch home run off Dodgers starter Blake Snell, putting Milwaukee ahead 1-0. Rookie left-hander Robert Gasser protected the lead with five scoreless innings, allowing three hits, before handing off to the bullpen.
The Dodgers broke through in the sixth. Reliever Abner Uribe walked three of the first four batters he faced, loading the bases, and Will Smith drove a two-run double off the wall in left-center to give Los Angeles a 2-1 lead. Smith had opened the postseason 1-for-25. The Dodgers failed to add on, as Enrique Hernandez and Tommy Edman struck out against DL Hall to end the inning.
Back-to-back home runs turn the series around
Milwaukee answered in three batters. Andrew Vaughn walked to open the seventh, and Bauers hit a two-run home run to right on the 11th pitch of his at-bat to put the Brewers back on top. Two pitches later, Mitchell sent the next pitch over the wall in right-center to make it 4-2 and end Snell’s night. Snell allowed four runs on four hits over six-plus innings, with two walks and nine strikeouts.
The Brewers kept adding on. Brice Turang scored in the eighth on a Justin Wrobleski wild pitch. Hall threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings for the win, and closer Trevor Megill got the final four outs, striking out the last two batters, for his fourth save of the postseason.
Dodgers one loss from elimination
The Dodgers won the last two World Series and are trying to become the first National League club to win three straight Fall Classic championships. Los Angeles managed five hits in Game 3 after collecting three in Game 2. Manager Dave Roberts moved Shohei Ohtani to sixth in the batting order with the star in a postseason slump. Ohtani went 1-for-2 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
Milwaukee finished last in the National League in home runs during the regular season with 154, but the Brewers have leaned on power when it has mattered most. The win put them one victory from the franchise’s second World Series appearance. Their only Fall Classic trip came in 1982 as an American League team, when they lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Reporting based on coverage by Reuters and Yardbarker.
