The Dodgers hand the ball to Tyler Glasnow in a must-win Game 4 on Thursday. (Edward M. Pio Roda / Getty Images)
The Dodgers have two pitchers who have won multiple Cy Young Awards in Blake Snell and Tarik Skubal. Another starter, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, is the reigning World Series most valuable player.
None of them will be on the mound Thursday when the season will be on the line. Instead, manager Dave Roberts will put the ball — and his team’s future — in the massive right hand of Tyler Glasnow, who will have no margin for error.
“It’s win or go home,” Skubal said. “Our backs are against the wall.”
That’s not how Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, saw things playing out when he traded three prospects to Detroit for Skubal in August. Or when he spent $182 million to sign Snell before last season. Or when he committed $325 million to sign Yamamoto the season before that.
And while that may not be the way the Dodgers wanted things to play out, they say they like their chances — for one night, at least.
“Everybody in the team is very confident in his ability and the stuff that’s coming out of his hand and doing his job,” Skubal said of Glasnow.
“I feel great about Glas,” utility man Kiké Hernández added. “He’s got some of the best stuff in the game. I feel like our pitchers have given us a chance every day to win a game, and we just haven’t hit. So we just got to hit.”
Glasnow started the season as the No. 3 starter, but before the Dodgers had gotten six weeks into their schedule, he was on the injured list because of lower back spasms. He spent most of the season there, pitching more innings in minor-league rehab starts than he did for the Dodgers between May and September.
He returned to make six starts down the stretch, striking out 49 in 34-1/3 innings to finish the season 5-2 with a 3.53 earned-run average in 13 starts, then held Atlanta to one hit over 4-2/3 innings in the deciding game of the division series.
“He’s fresh,” Roberts said of Glasnow. “He’s got a lot of arm talent. He’s got experience certainly in the postseason. We’ve got a lot of guys behind him” in the bullpen.
“I think he’s going to pitch well.”
The Dodgers’ season is depending on that. Glasnow, however, is just approaching it as another start.
“When I was younger maybe I’d feel it and get excited, and I’m like, ‘Oh, I can throw 105 if I try hard,’” he said. “Now it’s more about trying to settle in and go back to as close of a normal feeling as possible, not trying to chase it and be any different or any more or any less. Just try to stay with it and what I’ve done all week, my preparation, how I feel on the mound, and just keep it consistent.”
Glasnow, 33, has pitched in 17 postseason games for Tampa Bay and the Dodgers, going 2-6 with a 4.27 ERA. Only Snell, among Dodgers starters, has more playoff appearances. But Glasnow hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2020 division series when he was pitching for the Rays.
If he can give the Dodgers a boost Thursday, however, if he can extend their season just one more day, it could give the team new life.
Only one team has come back from a three-game deficit to win a best-of-seven League Championship Series and that was the 2004 Boston Red Sox team Roberts played for — a team that also gave the ball to its fourth-best starting pitcher with its season on the line.
On the afternoon of Game 4, with the New York Yankees looking to beat Derek Lowe and sweep the Sox, Boston’s Kevin Millar stepped on the field at Fenway Park and issued a warning.
Dave Roberts of Boston steals second past Derek Jeter of the Yankees in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. Roberts and the Red Sox became the only team to come back from down 3-0 to win an LCS. (Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images)
“Don’t let us win tonight,” he shouted. “If we win today, we’ve got Pedro [Martínez] coming back and then [Curt] Schilling will pitch Game 6 and anything can happen in a Game 7.”
The series played out exactly as Millar predicted. And if Glasnow can rescue the Dodgers, they would have their three high-paid aces — Skubal, Yamamoto and Snell — lined up for the next three elimination games.
But none of that matters if they lose Thursday.
“We just need to win tomorrow’s game,” Skubal said.
The Los Angeles Dodgers' season, and their quest for a World Series three-peat, is on the ropes. Their backbreaking 6-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night has them now staring down a 3-0 hole in the NLCS. History, for as much of it as the Dodgers have made the prior two seasons, isn't on their side this time around.
But they do have one guy in that clubhouse who knows what it's like to buck the trend.
"It's certainly possible," manager Dave Roberts told reporters about coming back from 3-0 down. "I've lived it."
Has there ever been a 3-0 comeback in MLB?
"Don't let us win tonight."
Kevin Millar stood on the field at Fenway Park that October night 22 years ago. Shouting that at anyone close enough to listen. The Boston Red Sox were down 3-0 in the ALCS to the archrival New York Yankees, their season on the brink. But yet there was Millar, confidently defiant of the reality that stood in front of them.
"If you let us win tonight, we’ve got Pedro (Martinez) in Game 5, (Curt) Schilling in Game 6," he continued. "And anything can happen in Game 7."
What followed was arguably the greatest comeback ever seen. Regardless of sport.
Down 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth, Millar drew a leadoff walk. Roberts pinch ran for him and immediately stole second. Then, Bill Mueller swatted an outside cutter from the infallible Mariano Rivera up the middle. Roberts darted off, arms pumping and chest up, sliding home and pumping his fist in the air as he got back on his feet after scoring the game-tying run.
The rest, as the cliche goes, is history.
David Ortiz mashed a two-run, walk-off home run to stay alive. The Red Sox won Game 5 after that, then Game 6 and 7 to become the first − and so far only − team in MLB history to come back from a 3-0 deficit.
Can Dodgers come back from 3-0 down?
The Dodgers are in a much different situation. There is no 84-year curse hanging over their heads. They have the two World Series trophies from each of the last two years to fall back on. But the odds are just as great. Forty-one out of 42 teams facing a sweep have gone on to be eliminated, according to MLB's Sarah Langs.
The only other team to come close was the Houston Astros when they forced a Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Rays after falling down 3-0 in the 2020 bubble, but they still lost the winner-take-all contest 4-2.
But Roberts has been here before. He knows how dire the circumstances are. Rather than sit at the podium and wax poetic about his experience, though, he wants to keep it straightforward. The Dodgers have won four in a row nine times this season. They need to do it one more time. It starts with one, though.
He knows that better than anyone.
"We got to win tomorrow," he said. "That's our only focus."
LOS ANGELES — Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell hit back-to-back homers off Blake Snell as Milwaukee regained the lead in the seventh inning, and the Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 on Wednesday to take a 3-0 lead in the National League Championship Series.
Los Angeles had just taken a 2-1 lead in the sixth before getting stunned. The loss pushed the two-time defending World Series champions to the brink of elimination.
“All three games we’ve played so far, and hopefully that continues, where just every time they score, we come back and score,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “That’s not easy to do in baseball.”
Game 4 is Thursday at Dodger Stadium, where the Brewers can become the first major league club to complete a postseason sweep after getting swept by that same opponent in the previous postseason. Los Angeles took all four games against Milwaukee in the NLCS last year.
The only other time the Dodgers trailed 3-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series, they were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1966 World Series.
The lone team in big league history to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven postseason series was the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees.
“We’ve won four in a row a number of times this year,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We’ve got to win tomorrow. That’s our only focus.”
Coming into the seventh, Snell had retired 14 batters in a row. The first pitch of the game thrown by the two-time Cy Young Award winner was hit for a home run by Jackson Chourio, and his last pitch was Mitchell’s solo shot.
Andrew Vaughn drew a seven-pitch walk to open the inning and was replaced by pinch-runner Christian Yelich. Bauers followed with a 412-foot drive to right field on the 11th pitch of the at-bat for a 3-2 lead as most of the players in Milwaukee’s dugout came onto the field to celebrate.
Mitchell was next and his drive traveled 428 feet to right-center. That chased Snell, who hadn’t given up a home run in 46 1/3 innings this year entering the game. It was only the second time in his career the left-hander served up multiple home runs to left-handed hitters in one game.
And it was the latest relentless plate appearance for Bauers, who drew a 12-pitch walk from Yoshinobu Yamamoto that helped the Brewers go ahead early in Game 2.
Milwaukee, which has never beaten the Dodgers in three previous playoff series, is chasing its second pennant and first in the National League. The Brewers were in the American League when they reached their only World Series, a seven-game loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982.
Snell gave up four runs and four hits in six innings, struck out nine and walked two.
The Brewers extended the lead to 5-2 in the eighth on Justin Wrobleski’s wild pitch that scored Brice Turang, who reached on an infield single and advanced to third on William Contreras’ single. They added another run on Joey Ortiz’s two-strike RBI single in the ninth.
The offensively starved Dodgers took their first lead, 2-1, on Will Smith’s two-run double off reliever Abner Uribe in the sixth.
After rookie starter Robert Gasser pitched five shutout innings, Uribe entered and loaded the bases on walks to Teoscar Hernández, Kyle Tucker and Shohei Ohtani. Smith, who was 1 for 25 in the playoffs, doubled off the left-center fence with one out for his first hit of the NLCS.
DL Hall took over from Uribe and stranded runners at second and third by striking out pinch-hitter Kiké Hernández and Tommy Edman.
Hall allowed one hit in 2 1/3 scoreless innings to improve to 3-0 in these playoffs. Trevor Megill got four outs for his second save of the series and fourth this postseason.
The Dodgers played from behind again after the 22-year-old Chourio connected for his third career leadoff homer as fans were still heading to their seats.
After that, Mitchell walked and Cooper Pratt singled in the second before Snell retired 14 in a row — six on strikeouts — before getting hammered in the seventh.
The Dodgers had runners on base in all but three innings, but couldn’t get enough across. They have yet to homer in the NLCS.
Ohtani was 1 for 2 with a walk while hitting sixth in the order, the lowest he’s batted since joining the Dodgers three years ago.
As the postseason wraps up without the Braves, it’s beginning to get into the season for awards and a flurry of offseason activity before the seemingly inevitable lockout.
California Post senior sports reporter Edward Lewis captured multiple videos of fans exiting the stadium behind the bleachers in centerfield.
The news of the Dodgers leaving early came after they failed to fill out the stadium.
Dodgers fans exit NLCS Game 3 matchup early. Edward Lewis of The California PostDodgers fans leave Game 3 of the NLCS early. Edward Lewis of The California Post
From the game’s opening pitch until the final out, Dodger Stadium was littered with empty seats, with the colors of blue and yellow chairs sprinkled throughout — even though the cost of tickets plummeted by 42% before the game began.
With Wednesday’s loss, the Dodgers are now facing a 3-0 deficit in the series and are a game away from being swept by the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Dodgers spent most of the game trailing the Brewers after Jackson Chourio made history on the game’s opening pitch.
Chourio saw a fastball come his way on the first pitch of the game and sent it over the right center-field fence for a solo home run.
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani reacts to being walked in the sixth inning. AP Photo/Gregory Bull
Dodgers starting pitcher Blake Snell settled in from there, striking out nine batters through six innings.
With the bases loaded and only one out, Smith hit a two-RBI double to score Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernandez.
Through most of the postseason, the Dodgers have struggled to bring runners home while in scoring position, and did just that after Smith’s rally starter as he and Shohei Ohtani were left stranded on third and second after Kiké Hernández and Tommy Edman were struck out to end the inning.
Blake Snell gave up back-to-back home runs to the Brewers in the seventh inning. AP Photo/Ashley Landis
Jake Bauers worked an 11-pitch at-bat against Snell in the inning and finished it with a two-run homer to end the game. Garrett Mitchell followed in the next at-bat by launching a changeup that was left hanging over the middle of the plate, 428 feet towards center field to make it a 4-2 game.
Milwaukee tacked on one more run in the eighth, sending the fans home. After they left, Joey Ortiz hit an RBI single to left to give the game its final score.
As the Dodgers are on the verge of being swept in the playoffs for the first time since 2023, they will host Milwaukee for Game 4 on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. PT.
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 14: Jake Bauers #9 of the Milwaukee Brewers hits a two run home run in the seventh inning during Game Three of the National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
In Game Two of the NLCS on Monday, Jake Bauers had what was one of the best at-bats in the history of the franchise. Against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, one of the best postseason pitchers of his generation, he worked a 12-pitch walk, which was followed by a two-run single that chased Yamamoto and sent the Brewers on their way.
That at-bat had a short reign as the best at-bat of Bauers’ career.
With one out in the seventh inning, against a cruising ace, just after the Dodgers had gotten to Abner Uribe, seized a late lead, and snagged all of the game’s momentum, Bauers one-upped himself. He battled Blake Snell for 11 pitches, the last of which ended up deep into the right field seats at Dodger Stadium. The Brewers never looked back.
Bauers wasn’t the only hero. Jackson Chourio homered on the game’s first pitch. Garrett Mitchell followed Bauers with a homer of his own. Robert Gasser was huge, with five scoreless innings. DL Hall had one of the biggest moments of any Brewer reliever in a postseason full of big moments for Brewer relievers. The defense looked good. But Bauers grabbed the headlines and the memories, and the Brewers now just need one win in four tries to get somewhere they haven’t been in 44 years: the World Series.
Milwaukee got things going right away. On the very first pitch of the game, Chourio jumped on a fastball down the middle and hit it over the wall in right field. It was the last thing the Dodgers needed, and a huge early jolt for the visiting team, as Milwaukee took an early 1-0 lead. With his third career postseason leadoff homer, Chourio moved into a tie for second on the all-time list for leadoff home runs in the playoffs. Here’s where I remind you he is 22.
It’s a good thing they got to Snell when they did. After Chourio’s homer, Snell struck out the next three batters on just 11 pitches. In the second, he allowed a couple of baserunners—Mitchell walked and Cooper Pratt singled with one out—but he got out of that jam, and then completely locked in. After Pratt’s single, Snell retired the next 14in a row. He looked dominant in doing so.
In a twist that few would have seen coming, though, Gasser was ready to match Snell. He did it very differently—Gasser wasn’t working with strikeout stuff, and he got some help from his defense (as seen by Luis Lara’s play in the second inning, shown below)—but the Dodgers found themselves unable to square him up. He scattered a few hits and dealt with leadoff baserunners three times, but no runner advanced past second, and the Dodgers never felt like they got much of a threat going against the Brewer lefty. Gasser even stayed in to face the top of the order a third time; with a runner on first base and one out, Mookie Betts hit a hard line drive to center that was caught on a slide by Mitchell, and Freddie Freeman grounded out harmlessly to end the fifth, and Gasser’s evening.
It was a fantastic outing for the young Brewer lefty. Building off of his good showing in San Diego—when he allowed one run on three hits in four innings—Gasser went five scoreless, with three strikeouts, three hits allowed, one walk, and a hit batter.
After Snell threw a fourth straight perfect inning in the sixth, the Brewer bullpen took over, with Uribe on to face the middle of the Dodger lineup. Uribe, though, didn’t have it today. He walked Teoscar Hernández and Kyle Tucker on just nine pitches, which injected major life into the Los Angeles crowd. Dave Roberts, sensing a moment, pulled Andy Pages to get Max Muncy an at-bat versus the right-handed Uribe, an aggressive but understandable move with Uribe needing to face another batter. Muncy got ahead of Uribe 2-1, but Uribe found it and came back to strike out Muncy.
With Hall warm in the bullpen, Pat Murphy made a surprising non-move: he let Uribe stay in to face Shohei Ohtani. Uribe still couldn’t find the zone; he walked Ohtani on five pitches, and the bases were loaded with one out for Will Smith. Smith, knowing that Uribe badly needed a first-pitch strike, sat on the fastball and got one right down the middle—he blasted it off the wall in left for a two-run double that gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.
Murphy has made all the right moves all postseason thus far, and it’s difficult to second guess him… but not pulling Uribe for Hall against Ohtani was a mistake that you could see coming. Uribe has worked a lot, and he didn’t have it tonight. After the Dodgers announced Josue De Paula as a pinch-hitter, Murphy removed Uribe for Hall, and Roberts countered by replacing De Paula with Kiké Hernández. With runners on second and third and one out, Hall struck out Hernández and Tommy Edman to keep the Dodgers at two—a huge pair of outs from the Brewer lefty.
Now, though, the Brewers needed to get something cooking against a starting pitcher who’d been absolutely mowing them down ever since the second pitch of the game. Snell was only up to 81 pitches, and he still had not allowed a baserunner since Pratt’s one-out single in the second inning. But he’d been sitting a while. Finally, leading off the seventh inning, the Brewers ended Snell’s run of 14 straight when Andrew Vaughn worked a seven-pitch walk, which got the bullpen moving for Los Angeles.
Christian Yelich replaced Vaughn as a pinch runner while Bauers came up to the plate. With Bauers’ long at-bat against Yamamoto fresh on the mound, and with Snell approaching 90 pitches, the Brewers hoped Bauers might work another long at-bat.
So he got ahead 2-1. On 2-2, he fouled off a couple pitches. He worked to 3-2. He fouled off another pitch. And then another. Then he hit one hard down the right-field line, one that looked like it might be going out off the bat… but it went foul too.
The next one did not go foul. Bauers got a middle-middle fastball on the eleventh pitch of the at-bat and he detonated it. He hit it 109.4 mph deep into the seats in right field, a two-run homer that flipped the scoreboard back in the Brewers’ favor. Two days after his 12-pitch at-bat that sparked Milwaukee’s rally against Yamamoto, an 11-pitch at-bat ended even better against Snell. A remarkable moment.
The Brewers weren’t done with Snell. With Mitchell, a lefty, up, Roberts tried to get one more batter out of his starter. It was a bad idea. Mitchell got a 1-0 changeup that got way too much of the plate, and Mitchell blasted it even harder and further than Bauers had, a 111.5 mph, 428-foot, no-doubt shot that doubled Milwaukee’s lead.
Hall continued for the Brewers in the bottom of the seventh, now pitching with a 4-2 lead. He got some help from his defense: Joey Ortiz made a nice pick on a short hop to get Betts for the first out, and Chourio made a nice running catch for the second. Ortiz made another fine play on a weak ground ball, and Hall had taken his turn in the Brewer bullpen spotlight: five batters, five outs, two high-level-of-difficulty inherited runners stranded.
Roki Sasaki started the eighth for the Dodgers, but he was getting a lot of plate. Turang reached on a check-swing infield single with one out, and Contreras followed with a base hit up the middle, putting runners on the corners with one out for Yelich, who was getting his first at-bat of the game. Roberts moved to lefty Justin Wrobleski for Yelich, who faced a drawn-in infield. He just missed an extra-base hit on a chopper down the left-field line that was called foul on the first pitch he saw (upon further review… it really looked like it may have been fair), but it turned out the Brewers didn’t need Yelich to come through to get that insurance run: a ball in the dirt squirted away from Smith, both runners advanced, and the Brewers took a 5-2 lead. Wrobleski struck out Yelich and Bauers to end the inning, but Milwaukee now had a three-run lead that they only needed to protect for six more outs.
Hall, having a night, stayed on for the bottom of the eighth. Tucker put up a battle to lead off the inning, but he’s no Bauers, and he flew out to center on the eighth pitch of the at-bat. Hall then had a favorable matchup against Muncy, who’d entered for Pages in the sixth, and Muncy popped out. With two outs, Ohtani ripped a single at 114 mph up the middle—by far the best contact of the series for him—and Hall was removed in favor of closer Trevor Megill, who was brought in to face Smith. Smith flew out harmlessly to Lara in right, and the Dodgers were down to three outs.
Pratt picked up his third hit of the game in the top of the ninth, and with two outs he moved to second with a stolen base. Ortiz, who looked a bit better at the plate today but had some tough BABIP luck, snuck one through this time—a grounder got past Muncy into left field, and Pratt scored. Classic Brewers baseball. Chourio bounced out to end the inning but Megill, a pitcher unused to getting more than three outs, now had a four-run lead to work with.
It turned out Megill did not need the extra cushion. He calmly retired the Dodgers in order, and the Brewers had a 6-2 victory and a 3-0 series lead.
What a remarkable, resilient team. After looking helpless against Snell for the bulk of the game, and after the Dodgers finally broke through against the Brewer bullpen in the sixth, Bauers, Mitchell, and the Brewers struck back with a sledgehammer. The Bauers homer is immediately one of the greatest moments in the history of the franchise. Mitchell’s was another exclamation point. But let’s not forget Hall’s work; his two strikeouts in the previous inning, in retrospect, could not have been bigger.
The Brewers, improbably, have a chance to close the series tomorrow night. That game is at 7pm. Tyler Glasnow will start for the Dodgers, and we’ll see what the Brewers do with their pitching staff; it’s likely we’ll see Dustin May, and I’d bet you some money that Aaron Ashby will feature big time given that he didn’t end up getting used tonight.
Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell during the seventh inning of Game 3 of the NLCS, when the Milwaukee Brewers took the lead for good on consecutive home runs. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Blake Snell stood on the mound with his hand on his hip, waiting for Jake Bauers to cross the plate before punching in his pitch call for the next batter.
The Dodgers left-hander had just given up the lead on Bauers’ two-run homer in the seventh inning, spoiling what had been a stellar start Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. But Snell was ready to move on.
Two pitches later, he watched another ball fly over the fence, this time off Garrett Mitchell’s bat. And with it went the last of the Dodgers’ momentum in what would become a 6-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.
“It sucks,” Snell said of falling behind 3-0 in the series. “But it’s part of it. How do we bounce back? How do we fight? I think that’s the most important thing. It’s us coming together and finding a way to win.”
After setting their sights on a history-making three-peat, the Dodgers will have to win the next four games to advance to the World Series.
Only one team in MLB history has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series — the 2004 Red Sox in the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees, on their way to breaking the Curse of the Bambino.
“At the beginning of this year, we set out to do something historic,” veteran third baseman Max Muncy said. “It looks like we’re going to have to make a little more history along the way if we want to accomplish that.
“That’s the task ahead of us. We still have the pitching staff to be able to do it. We just have to get some hits.”
For five innings, the only run on the board was the one the Brewers scored on the first pitch of the game.
Snell zipped a 97.6-mph fastball over the center of the plate, and Brewers leadoff hitter Jackson Chourio sent it into the first row of the stands in right-center.
For much of Snell’s start, however, that aggressive approach worked. He dotted the upper rail with his fastball, threw his curveball for both swings and misses and called strikes, and mixed in his changeup to right-handed batters.
Unlike Snell’s last postseason start, when he issued five walks and lasted just 3-2/3 innings against the Atlanta Braves, his efficiency got him through six-plus innings Wednesday, with just two walks.
And while Snell’s fastball averaged 97 mph in his last start — something he’d done only twice before in his career, regular season or postseason, and not since 2022, according to Statcast — he threw even harder on Wednesday: 97.3 mph.
After Chourio’s home run, Snell retired 18 of the next 20 batters, including 14 in a row, to get through six innings. His nine strikeouts were one shy of a postseason career high, which he recorded against the Brewers last year in Game 1 of the NLCS.
The game was still far from decided going into the bottom of the sixth, even though the Dodgers’ offense had been quiet.
With the way the Brewers’ bullpen pitched in the first two games, it seemed the Dodgers would have to score against the Brewers’ starters to have a chance to pull themselves out of the hole they’d dug.
They failed to do so in Game 3, logging just three hits off left-hander Robert Gasser.
Luckily for the Dodgers, pitching every game of the postseason seemed to finally have caught up to hard-throwing right-hander Abner Uribe in his seventh appearance.
Uribe took over for Gasser in the sixth inning and walked the first two batters.
Milwaukee's Jake Bauers homers off Snell in the seventh inning of Game 3. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Then Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had left-handed-hitting Max Muncy pinch-hit for Andy Pages. Muncy struck out, and the biggest moment of the game fell to two Dodgers who have had the worst postseason production on the team.
Roberts had moved Shohei Ohtani down to sixth in the batting order and put Will Smith behind him. Naturally, the game found them.
In a short-lived comeback story, they came through.
Ohtani drew a five-pitch walk without taking a swing. With the bases loaded, it was up to Smith, who had gone one for 25 in the postseason to that point.
He ambushed a first-pitch sinker and drove it into the left-field gap for a two-run double and the lead.
“It’s really hard to put it into words, because you feel like you finally break through,” veteran utility player Miguel Rojas said. “Will the big hit, you feel really good for him, because we all know he’s been struggling at the plate, getting the opportunities and now being able to come through.”
The rally halted there. Roberts burned rookie Josue De Paula as a pinch-hitter, swapping him out for Kiké Hernández when the Brewers brought in left-hander DL Hall. Hernández and Tommy Edman struck out to end the inning.
“That was the game right there,” Hernández said. “We need to put the ball in play; I didn’t. I struck out and gave Tommy a way harder job with two outs. Just have to be better tomorrow.”
Snell jogged back to the mound with a lead for the first time. He issued a leadoff walk to Andrew Vaughn. And then Bauers locked him into an 11-pitch battle — the second time in as many games that Bauers worked a Dodgers starter for double-digit pitches — that ended with a fastball over the middle of the plate.
“What an at-bat,” Snell said. “I threw everything I had. Fastball down the middle — if I can locate that better, who knows what would happen. It’s the best I’ve ever seen him play.”
Snell hadn’t given up a home run all season — not in his nine regular-season starts or his division series start. Three on Wednesday defined his defeat.
“To have three in a game is pretty frustrating,” Snell said. “It’s something I’ve got to learn from. It’s part of their journey too. It’s only going to make me better.”
The next inning, the Brewers added an insurance run with back-to-back singles against right-hander Roki Sasaki and a wild pitch from left-hander Justin Wrobleski. They tacked on another in the ninth with a pair of singles and a stolen base off Wrobleski.
With the flash of red taillights flickering outside of the stadium, a sign of fans already heading for the exits, the Dodgers went down in order to end the game.
“This is uncharted territory for us, especially the last two years,” Rojas said. “It’s kind of a tough one to kind of wrap your head around, especially with the talent that we have in this group and the way that we know we’re capable of playing, especially on the offensive part of the ball.
“With that being said, I feel like there’s nothing for us to kind of do or say. It’s just more of, come here tomorrow, we have another opportunity to win a baseball game and believe in a potential streak of four games in a row.”
All around the ballpark, the usually jovial left-hander wore a stoic expression. He walked to and from outfield catch play every day with a look of determination on his face.
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Blake Snell throws against the Milwaukee Brewers in the first inning of Game 3. Wally Skalij for the CA Post
His Dodgers teammates noticed it. So did his manager.
“Much more quiet, much more kind of staying to himself,” Dave Roberts said of his star left-hander, coming off a disappointing NL Division Series start in which he failed to complete four innings. “I think he’s been really anxious to get another opportunity … When you guys see him take the mound today, you’re going to see another level of intensity.”
He walked leadoff batter Andrew Vaughn. He then got Jake Bauers in a two-strike count but repeatedly failed to put him away.
Five times, Bauers fouled off a two-strike offering. Just as he did to Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2, he extended an at-bat into double-digit pitches.
“What an at-bat,” Snell conceded. “I threw everything I had.”
Finally, on pitch No. 11, Snell made a mistake, leaving a fastball down the middle.
Bauers was all over it, clobbering a no-doubt two-run homer halfway up the right-field pavilion.
Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers runs out his two-run home run during the seventh inning. AP Photo/Ashley Landis
If that wasn’t bad enough, Garrett Mitchell doubled the pain two pitches later, going back-to-back on another long ball to right.
That ended Snell’s night, and marked only the fifth time in his career he had allowed three home runs in a game. Even more shockingly: He hadn’t given up a big fly in any of his 10 previous outings this season.
A stunning conclusion to what had been shaping up to be a dominant start –– and perhaps the death blow to the Dodgers’ World Series three-peat ambitions this year.
Hero: DL Hall
For as shocking as Snell’s seventh-inning sequence was, what happened at the end of the sixth for the Dodgers might have been just as costly.
After doing next to nothing against the Brewers’ bullpen in the first two games of this series, the Dodgers had finally broken through against Abner Uribe, loading the bases on three walks –– in a sign of potential fatigue from the hard-throwing right-hander, who has pitched every game of this postseason for Milwaukee –– before Smith came up and snapped his 1-for-25 playoff drought with a two-run double off the wall in left.
However, Shohei Ohtani seemed to get a bad read on that drive, failing to score from first in what would prove to be a consequential mistake.
Then, the Brewers turned to Hall, tasking the second-best lefty in their bullpen to get through the rest of the inning unscathed.
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher DL Hall reacts during the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Getty Images
On just 10 pitches, he did, recording back-to-back strikeouts of Kiké Hernández and Tommy Edman to retire the side and keep the Brewers’ deficit at just one run.
A half-inning later, Hall’s escape would prove paramount.
He wasn’t done either, collecting five more outs in seventh and eighth to earn a pivotal winning decision.
Unsung hero: Shohei Ohtani
His base-running mistake aside, Ohtani validated the Dodgers’ decision to keep him in their lineup after speculation he could be benched following Game 2.
After being dropped to the No. 6 spot in the batting order, he went 1-for-2 with his sixth-inning walk and a hit-by-pitch in the fourth. He also laced a 113.5 mph single in the eighth, and even looked better on the one out he recorded back in his first at-bat, when he lined out sharply to left.
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani reacts to being walked during the sixth inning. AP Photo/Gregory Bull
It was a step in the right direction for the injury-hampered slugger, who entered Wednesday batting just 3-for-20 in the playoffs.
But if the Dodgers are to save their season –– now facing a 3-0 deficit that only one team in MLB history has ever overcome in a seven-game series –– they will almost certainly need more from the four-time MVP, who still doesn’t have an extra-base hit or RBI this October.
Stat of the game: Eight
That’s how many runners the Dodgers left stranded on base Wednesday, continuing a playoff-long trend of missed chances and wasted opportunities.
Even with Smith’s double, they finished 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position, falling to 3-for-32 in such situations this postseason.
Quote of the night
Max Muncy didn’t mince words when asked why the Dodgers’ offense –– now sporting a .165 batting average in this series –– has not been able to have more success against the Brewers’ admittedly stout pitching staff.
“It’s a pretty simple answer,” he said. “We’re playing like shit. They’re playing great. It’s as simple as that. No need to overcomplicate it.”
Unless the Dodgers can reel off four straight wins now, that will be the story of how their dynasty ended.
In order to accomplish that goal now, they have an even more daunting challenge impeding their path.
A year after they swept the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, the shoe is suddenly, stunningly, unbelievably in danger of being put on the other foot.
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Blake Snell throws against the Milwaukee Brewers in the first inning of Game 3. Wally Skalij for the CA Post
With a 6-2 loss in Game 3 on Wednesday, the Dodgers are on the verge of not only elimination, but a humiliating sweep.
And unless they can become only the second team in MLB history to overcome a 3-0 hole in a best-of-seven series, the way they got there Wednesday will reverberate long into the winter –– serving as the potential death-knell in their modern-day dynasty.
In the sixth inning, the Dodgers had finally captured momentum in this previously one-sided matchup, taking a 2-1 lead on a bases-loaded two-run double from Will Smith against hard-throwing Milwaukee reliever Abner Uribe.
It was the kind of moment the Dodgers had been waiting for all series: A big hit with runners on base. A hard-nosed rally against the Brewers’ dominant bullpen. A late-game lead that seemed to take their season off life support.
“You feel like you finally break through,” infielder Miguel Rojas said.
Minutes later, however, it would all disappear.
After six nearly flawless innings from Blake Snell, in which he had retired 18 of 20 batters after a leadoff home run on the first pitch of the game from Jackson Chourio, the two-time Cy Young Award winner returned to the mound in the seventh with Dodger Stadium still pulsing.
Then he issued a leadoff walk, and got locked in an epic battle with Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers.
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Blake Snell walks off the field against the Milwaukee Brewers in the first inning of Game 3 of the NLCS. Wally Skalij for the CA Post
Just as he had done to Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a 12-pitch duel during Game 2, Bauers refused to be put away, working an 11-pitch at-bat in which he fouled off five two-strike offerings.
Finally, having exhausted all other options, Snell challenged him with a fastball in the heart of the plate.
Bauers was ready for it, clobbering a 412-foot shot halfway up the right-field pavilion.
Chavez Ravine went silent. The Brewers had regained a 3-2 lead.
“I threw everything I had,” Snell said. “[Then a] fastball down the middle. If I can locate that better, who knows what would happen.”
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What happened instead was a gut punch the Dodgers are unlikely to recover from.
Two pitches later, Garrett Mitchell also took Snell deep on a no-doubt drive to right.
“I mean, three home runs in a game –– I didn’t give up one the whole year,” said Snell, who had indeed not only avoided any long ball in his 10 previous outings this season, but had only allowed three homers in a single game four times previously in his entire career.
“Pretty frustrating,” he added.
This time, it was on a hanging changeup, sending another shockwave through a dazed crowd of 50,708. And this time, there would be no way back for the Dodgers’ offense, which went missing again after its sixth-inning outburst.
“This one sucks,” infielder Kiké Hernández said. “At the end of the day, we haven’t hit. It’s tough to win a series the way that we’ve been hitting.”
Added Rojas, in agreement: “It’s really hard to pitch when you have no run support. That’s on us. Offensively, we haven’t done what we’re supposed to do to keep building momentum and getting more runs in the times we have opportunities with runners on base.”
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Abner Uribe and Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith watch Smith’s two RBI double take flight during the sixth inning. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Indeed, in some ways, the Dodgers’ most costly sequence might have come at the end of the sixth, when they failed to tack on more after Smith’s two-run drive.
Shohei Ohtani, having drawn the third walk of the inning against Uribe, seemed to get a late read on Smith’s ball and only made it from first to third on the play. Then, after the Brewers turned to left-hander DL Hall, Hernández and Tommy Edman both struck out to end the inning, leaving Ohtani and Smith stranded in scoring position.
“That was the game right there,” Hernández said of his at-bat. “We need to put the ball in play. I didn’t. I struck out and gave Tommy a way harder job with two outs.”
Really, it epitomized the Dodgers’ struggles over this entire series, in which they’ve managed just 15 total hits against the Brewers’ pitching staff and gone a woeful 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
“It’s a pretty simple answer,” third baseman Max Muncy said of the Dodgers’ team-wide slump. “We’re playing like s–t. They’re playing great. It’s as simple as that. No need to overcomplicate it.”
Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers celebrates his two-run home run with catcher William Contreras. AP Photo/Ashley Landis
Over the final three frames, a two-out eighth-inning single from Ohtani –– who, base-running mistake aside, took a step forward by reaching base three times in the wake of speculation he could be benched following Game 2 –– would be the Dodgers’ only offense.
The Brewers, meanwhile, tacked on insurance runs in the eighth and ninth en route to putting the Dodgers’ season on the brink.
“We still have the pitching staff to be able to [come back in this series],” Muncy said, with Tyler Glasnow set to start Game 4 on Thursday, and co-aces Tarik Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto lined up behind him. “We just have to get some hits … We’ve just got to show up ready to play.”
At some point, of course, the Dodgers’ dynasty was bound to end.
After so many close calls the last two years, their October luck was eventually due to run out.
But not even in their worst nightmares could they have imagined a scenario like this, a loss like this, a potential sweep like this.
“It’s really hard to put it into words,” Rojas said.
And now, they either have to make history, or become history.
Even for the two-time defending champions, it feels like a too tall of a task.
The Brewers are going to win the National League pennant and reach their first World Series in 44 years.
And the Dodgers’ World Series title run comes to an end.
It will become official as soon as Game 4 on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium.
Maybe Friday in Game 5. At the worst, when they get back to Milwaukee.
But this National League Championship Series is over.
The Brewers staged another late comeback, and came away with a 6-2 victory over the Dodgers to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series.
And only the 2004 Boston Red Sox have ever overcome a 3-0 deficit to win the best-of-seven series.
History won’t be repeating itself, not even with the Dodgers' manager being the one who helped spark that comeback with a historic stolen base.
So, does Dave Roberts dare show the video clip of him stealing second base in the ninth inning of that famed Game 4 against the Yankees and closer Mariano Rivera, leading to four consecutive victories?
“Absolutely not, no," Roberts said, laughing before the game. “Then I'll lose them. I don't know if some of those guys even know I played. No, absolutely not.
“When times get tough, I just kind of go the other way and get more lax and have fun with the guys, just want to slow down."
Well, things are more than tough.
Call it impossible.
The Brewers won a major-league leading 103 games during the regular season, and they’re not about to lose four in a row now.
Next stop, World Series – which they have never won in their 58-year history.
The Brewers are careful not to pop off, let alone pop any champagne bottles, but no matter how carefully they choose their words, they are on the brink of Brewers manager Pat Murphy reading another fictional letter to his team from the late Bob Uecker in their celebration.
“The way I look at it, you're climbing a mountain, and you're getting really close to the top,’’ Murphy said, “and when you are, usually that path narrows a little bit. You know what I mean? It's not as wide. When you start the mountain, it seems like this wide [spreading his arms].
“I think as you get closer, you've just got to keep your footing, keep your head down, and you can't look too far ahead. When you look up for the prize, “Oh, where's the top,’ you might step in a crack or a pothole. You've got to keep your head down and go forward.
“If you don't, adversity is coming."
Well, the only adversity coming to the Brewers will be trying to keep sharp until the World Series begins in eight days in Milwaukee against the winner of the Tampa Bay Rays-Cleveland Guardians series.
This was no fluke.
The Brewers beat the Dodgers in every phase of the game.
The Dodgers’ big advantage entering the series was their starting rotation and their power.
Well, the Brewers’ rotation has out-pitched the Dodgers. Their bullpen has out-pitched the Dodgers, giving up just two runs all series. They hit better in the clutch, with the Dodgers hitting .094 with runners in scoring position.
The Brewers, who hit the second-fewest homers in the major leagues this season, even out-homered the Dodgers, 5-0.
You name it, and the Brewers were better.
The Brewers came into the series confident, and at the moment there’s no doubt in their mind they are the best team in the National League.
“The belief had to be there at some point," Murphy said. “They didn't just wake up yesterday morning or this morning and say we could do this thing. I think their belief has been there. [Christian] Yelich has spoken openly about it. I think the guys followed the lead. [William] Contreras has spoken openly about it. This is what we're doing.
“But you've got to keep your head down and take each step."
It’s certainly a far cry from a year ago when the Brewers were swept by the Dodgers in the NLCS, not leading a single inning, leaving Los Angeles with a long, quiet flight home.
“I said, 'Hey guys, remember this. It hurts, remember it,'" Murphy said. “I think they remembered so far. It seems like they remembered."
Oh, have they ever, knocking off the San Diego Padres in four games in the Division Series, and now walloping the Dodgers.
The Brewers took command of this game from the first pitch when Jackson Chourio hit a home run over the left-center-field fence off two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, the first homer he had given up in his 11 starts this season. It was as if the blast performed a jet-stream of cold water on his face. He proceeded to retire 18 of the next 20 batters, including he faced through the first four innings, striking out eight batters. He shut down the last eight batters in order, including 14 in a row.
The lead held until catcher Will Smith, who was in a 1-for-25 skid, hit a two-run double off the center-field wall in the sixth inning for a 2-1 lead.
Snell, now pitching with a lead for the first time, melted down.
He walked Andrew Vaughn to lead off the seventh, and then in another epic at-bat by Jake Bauers, gave up a towering home run on the 11th pitch. Garrett Mitchell followed with another homer. Snell, who had not thrown a changeup to a left-handed hitter all night, watched two clear the fence as Roberts yanked him from the game as boos filled the air.
It was 4-2 Brewers, and with their vaunted bullpen, it was all over, with the non-sellout crowd of 50,708 streaming for the exits.
Oh, what a difference a year makes.
“Yeah, last year ended kind of terribly,’ Vaughn said. “Getting swept in the playoffs wasn't a good feeling. That definitely wasn't a fun plane ride home.
“I think it fueled everybody that experienced that last year."
Now, they will leave Los Angeles with the feeling of euphoria.
They should be departing with the National League pennant.
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Somebody might want to tell Miguel Rojas that it’s not a good idea to get ahead of yourself when it comes to winning championships.
The Los Angeles Dodgers infielder and 2025 World Series hero arrived for Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday night sporting custom red Nike Air Jordan cleats featuring the Dodgers’ 2024 and 2025 World Series trophies alongside a rather presumptuous message:
Photographers captured the flashy footwear at Dodger Stadium, where Rojas started at third base against left-hander Robert Gasser. But by night’s end, those championship cleats looked more like a premature victory lap.
Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas stands on first after a base hit during the third inning of Game 3 of baseball’s National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers. AP Photo/Gregory BullLos Angeles Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas celebrates his base hit during the third inning of Game 3 of baseball’s National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers. AP Photo/Ashley Landis
Rojas reached base twice with a single and a walk before manager Dave Roberts inexplicably removed him during a pivotal sixth-inning rally.
With Milwaukee reliever Abner Uribe reeling after Will Smith’s two-run, bases-loaded double, Roberts pinch-hit Josue DePaula for Rojas, only to replace DePaula with Kiké Hernández after Brewers manager Pat Murphy countered with a left-hander.
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Abner Uribe and Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith watch Smith’s two-RBI double during the sixth inning of Game 3 of baseball’s National League Championship Series. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Roberts also lifted Andy Pages for Max Muncy two batters earlier.
Both pinch-hitters struck out, leaving two runners stranded in scoring position.
One inning later, Blake Snell surrendered back-to-back home runs as Milwaukee seized a 4-2 lead.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell sits in the dugout during the fifth inning of Game 3 of baseball’s National League Championship Series. AP Photo/Ashley Landis
Suddenly, Rojas’ cleats weren’t looking so clever.
The Brewers went on to win the game 6-2 and now lead the NLCS 3-0, leaving Los Angeles one loss away from watching its historic three-peat aspirations disappear.
Ironically, only one team has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven MLB postseason series: the 2004 Boston Red Sox, featuring Roberts himself.
Maybe Rojas didn’t jinx the Dodgers.
But if Los Angeles completes this collapse, those “2026 loading” cleats might become an unfortunate fashion statement that didn’t work out on the field.
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 14: Jake Bauers #9 of the Milwaukee Brewers hits a two run Home Run during the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game three of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium on October 14, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) | Getty Images
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers finally got the big hit they needed, but it didn’t matter. Jake Bauers had another epically long at-bat, this time culminating in a two-run home run to help the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-2 win in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.
Milwaukee leads the series three games to none, a nearly full reversal of last year’s NLCS between these same two franchises.
Blake Snell had a fantastic first six innings, with nine strikeouts in an efficient 81 pitches, and retired 14 in a row through the sixth. He allowed just one run to that point, on a first-pitch home run by Jackson Chourio to open the game, the first long ball allowed by Snell in 11 starts this season.
It would not be his last.
The Dodgers grabbed a lead in the sixth inning, their latest lead of the series, and Snell was back out for the seventh. He walked Andrew Vaughn to open the frame, then up came Bauers, whose 12-pitch walk was the beginning of the end for Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 in Milwaukee. This time, Bauers only fouled off five pitches instead of six, one of them a long drive down the right field line but well foul.
Then, Bauers straightened one out on pitch number 11, a ball hit deep into the right field pavilion reminiscent of Matt Stairs 18 years earlier.
“I think he retired 13 or 14 in a row and his stuff was really good. I don’t think they were seeing him well,” manager Dave Roberts said, explaining his plan for the seventh inning. “I was trying to get him three more hitters. We had Evan [Phillips] for that fourth hitter.”
With the left-handed Garrett Mitchell batting, Snell remained in the game, but only for two more pitches as Mitchell homered as well, giving Milwaukee a two-run advantage.
That’s really been the difference in the series, with the Brewers able to take advantage and add on when needed, while the Dodgers have been scratching and clawing with very little to show for it.
Starter Robert Gasser allowed only a walk and three hits in his five scoreless innings, the latest in a growing number of pitchers to give the Dodgers fits this postseason. Two of those hits came in the third inning, and a praying mantis provided LA’s best scoring chance against the left-hander, annoying Chourio in left field before he was able to recover and catch a fly ball off the bat of Freddie Freeman.
Abner Uribe struck out four in 2 1/3 innings in pitching each of the first two games of the NLCS, and he was the first Milwaukee reliever out of the bullpen in Game 3, getting the sixth inning. This time, the right-hander was vulnerable, walking a career-high-tying three batters among his first four faced.
Smith doubled off the wall, scoring two to give the Dodgers a lead. Smith’s double was the big hit they’d been missing, and the Dodgers’ first extra-base hit with runners in scoring position this season, and just their third hit overall in those situations, in 32 at-bats.
But with only one out in the inning and runners on second and third base, they remained stranded as Kiké Hernández and Tommy Edman struck out. The Dodgers were not able to tack on, and the inning used up nearly all of the Dodgers’ bench. Max Muncy pinch-hit for Andy Pages with two on and nobody out, but struck out against Uribe.
“Abner is death on righties. You’re trying to guard against — you want to keep the inning going, and you don’t want a double play ball. Muncy’s not starting, and you want to fire that bullet in a leverage spot,” Roberts explained after the game. “First and second base, nobody out, it gives us the best chance to keep the inning going, in my opinion, and it gets Shohei up, and you have a chance to build an inning.”
Josue De Paula was first called to pinch-hit after the Smith double, but when Pat Murphy removed the right-handed Uribe in favor of the left-handed DL Hall, Roberts burned the left-handed De Paula, choosing the right-handed Hernández instead.
“It’s not like we’re playing like really bad. I think we’re just not getting the hits that we need to really explode as an offense,” shortstop Mookie Betts said earlier Wednesday. “One hit can kind of lead to two and then kind of keep us going.”
That one hit did not lead to two.
Hall, who got the final two outs of the sixth inning when the Brewers still trailed, remained in the game after they regained the lead. The left-hander needed only six pitches to retired the Dodgers in order in the seventh, a shutdown inning that must seem foreign to the Dodgers.
Los Angeles scored in only four different innings in Games 2 and 3, and after each one the Brewers scored in the very next frame. Milwaukee added insurance runs in the eighth and ninth innings on Wednesday, because they’ve been the better team this season and in this series.
That’s one of many reasons the Brewers now have up to four chances to get the one win they need to advance to their first World Series since 1982.
“Right now we’ve got a tall task,” Betts said before Game 3, “But it’s something we can achieve.”
That’s looking less and less likely now.
NLCS Game 3 particulars
Home runs: Jackson Chourio (2), Jake Bauers (1), Garrett Mitchell (1)
The Dodgers turn to Tyler Glasnow trying to keep their season alive on Thursday (moved up one hour earlier, to 5:08 p.m., FS1). Milwaukee has not yet named its Game 4 starting pitcher, but I’m not sure that matters all too much.
Snell, who came into the postseason without giving up a home run during the regular season, gave up three to the Brewers.
Blake Snell faces disaster by falling victim to three home runs. Wally Skalij for the CA PostJackson Chourio jogs around the bases after hitting a leadoff home run in the first inning. Wally Skalij for the CA Post
When Snell took the mound in the seventh, he opened the inning by giving up a walk to Andrew Vaughn.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy quickly removed him from the game and put in Christian Yelich as a pinch runner.
Blake Snell gives up back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning. Wally Skalij for the CA Post
Murphy’s move wouldn’t end up being a factor as Jake Bauers had other plans.
Bowers and Snell had a long 11-pitch at-bat, where he showed plenty of muscle, including on the 10th pitch when he hooked a ball foul, resulting in it landing just outside of a home run.
On the 11th pitch, he made up for the previous swing by launching a 97.8 mph four-seam fastball over the right field fence for a 412-foot home run.
In the next at-bat, Milwaukee tacked on an insurance run when Snell left a changeup hanging in the center of the strike zone — landing 428 feet over the center field fence to give Los Angeles a 4-2 deficit.
Snell was replaced after the home run and finished the night giving up only four hits, four runs and two walks.
For the second consecutive NLCS game, Jake Bauers has delivered.
The Milwaukee Brewers first baseman worked a 12-pitch at-bat in Game 2 on Monday, fouling off six straight pitches from Los Angeles Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto before taking ball four to load the bases with two outs. Christian Yelich then ripped a go-ahead RBI single into center field. The Brewers went on to win Game 2 7-4.
Blake Snell had been dealing, retiring 14 Brewers batters in a row after giving up a leadoff homer to Jackson Chourio on the first pitch of the game. That streak ended when he walked Andrew Vaughn to lead off the top of the seventh. Enter Bauers. The 31-year-old fouled off five pitches from Snell, the most dangerous of which was a hard liner on a hanging slider that he pulled just foul to right before it could clear the stands.
Snell got away with that one. The next pitch, the 11th of the at-bat, however, a 97.8 mph fastball in the exact same location, would be a different story.
Bauers got all of it, driving the ball 412 feet to right field for a no-doubt, go-ahead home run.
Garrett Mitchell added on with a 428-footer of his own two pitches later, putting an end to the former Cy Young winner's night as the Brewers took a late 4-2 lead on the Dodgers.
Will Smith gives the Dodgers a two-run lead in Game 3 of the NLCS.
Will Smith has unlocked a new power.
Dad strength.
Smith, who welcomed in his third child alongside his wife, Cara, ahead of Wednesday night’s NLCS Game 3 matchup against the Milwaukee Brewers, showed off his newly found strength when the Dodgers needed it most.
Will Smith hits a two-run double in the sixth inning. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Smith came up to the plate in the sixth inning, with the bases loaded after Brewers manager Pat Murphy made the questionable decision to leave right-handed pitcher Abner Uribe in the game, despite walking three of the four batters he faced in the inning.
The Dodgers catcher, who’s had his fair share of struggles in the postseason this year, needed to see only one pitch to capitalize on the moment after Uribe threw a 98.4 mph sinker in the middle of the strike zone.
Will Smith hits a two-run double in the sixth inning. AP Photo/Mark J. TerrillLos Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith follows through on his two-RBI double during the sixth inning of Game 3 of baseball’s National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers. AP Photo/Gregory Bull
Smith immediately launched the ball off the center field wall for a double and brought home Teoscar Hernandez and Kyle Tucker from third and second base, while Shohei Ohtani slid into third to make it a 2-1 lead for the Dodgers.
After Smith’s double, the Brewers pulled Uribe from the game and brought in DL Hall.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made his fair share of strategic moves by having Max Muncy come off the bench to bat in place of Andy Pages after Tucker’s walk. He also went to another veteran by pulling Josue De Paula and having Kike Hernandez pinch-hit for him.
Hernandez went down swinging, while second baseman Tommy Edman went down looking.
