Blake Snell had the Brewers in front by a run in the seventh, and Jake Bauers made sure there would be no late escape for Los Angeles. After a grinding 11-pitch at-bat, Bauers drove a fastball into the right-field pavilion for a two-run homer, then Garrett Mitchell followed with a shot of his own as Milwaukee beat the Dodgers, 6-2, on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.
The result
Milwaukee owns a 3-0 lead in the National League Championship Series and stands one victory from its first World Series appearance in 44 years.
The Dodgers had briefly brought life back into the park when Will Smith delivered a two-run double. But the Brewers answered with the kind of stubborn plate appearance that has come to define their October run.
Bauers had already worked a 12-pitch battle against Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2. In Game 3, he saw 11 pitches from Snell with Milwaukee holding a 3-2 advantage. He stayed alive by fouling off pitches eight, nine and 10 before getting a fastball over the plate. The drive to right gave the Brewers a three-run cushion and silenced a crowd that had just begun to sense a Dodgers comeback.
Mitchell went deep on the next at-bat, turning the inning into a four-run lead and putting Milwaukee on course for the 6-2 final.
Los Angeles, seeking a third consecutive World Series championship, now faces the steepest possible postseason climb. Forty-two clubs in Major League history have gone down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series. Thirty-two were swept. Just two pushed the series to a seventh game: the 2020 Astros, who won three straight against the Rays before losing Game 7, and the 2004 Red Sox.
Boston remains the only club to complete the comeback after an 0-3 hole, rallying past the Yankees in that year’s American League Championship Series. The Dodgers need to join that lone group to keep their title defense alive.
Game 4 awaits
Game 4 is scheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CT and 5 p.m. PT, with FS1, FOX Deportes and FOX One carrying the game. Milwaukee can close the series; Los Angeles has no margin left.
