The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 in Game 3 of the NLCS at Dodger Stadium to lead the series 3-0.
The sharpest detail is the at bat that decided it, an 11 pitch fight between Jake Bauers and Blake Snell that ended with the go ahead home run in the seventh inning.
First Pitch, First Statement
Jackson Chourio led off the game with a home run on the first pitch from Snell, giving Milwaukee a lead before most of Dodger Stadium had settled. That early advantage held until the sixth inning, when the game briefly turned toward Los Angeles. Abner Uribe walked three batters to load the bases, and Will Smith delivered a two run double that put the Dodgers ahead 2-1.
The inning could have broken open from there. Instead, DL Hall struck out Enrique Hernandez and Tommy Edman to end it, keeping Milwaukee within a run. That escape is easy to overlook beside the home runs that followed, but without it, the seventh inning comeback starts from a much deeper hole. Milwaukee’s bullpen bent in the sixth and then shut the door at exactly the moment the series favourites were ready to take control at home.
Bauers Wins The Eleven Pitch Fight
Bauers hit his go ahead two run home run in the seventh inning at the end of an 11 pitch at bat against Snell. At bat length matters in October because it tells the whole stadium what is happening: the hitter is seeing everything, fouling off the best pitches, and making the ace work for every strike. Snell struck out nine in the game, but he allowed four runs and three home runs, and the longest at bat of his night beat him.
Garrett Mitchell followed Bauers with a solo home run, giving Milwaukee back to back homers and a 4-2 lead. The Brewers added a run in the eighth on a wild pitch that scored Brice Turang, and a run in the ninth on Joey Ortiz’s RBI single, stretching the final margin to 6-2. Bauers described the group’s approach after the game:
“We play for each other. When you have 26 guys that are bought into that and believe that and show up every day, completely selfless, playing for each other, it’s a special thing to be a part of.” Jake Bauers, via Field Level Media
The series started this way in Brewers Edge Dodgers In NLCS Opener, and the Dodgers reached this round through nights like Yamamoto Dominates Braves, Dodgers Take Lead, which makes a 3-0 deficit for the two time defending champions even harder to explain without crediting Milwaukee first.
By The Numbers
- Final score: Milwaukee Brewers 6, Los Angeles Dodgers 2, NLCS Game 3 at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 14; Milwaukee leads the series 3-0
- Jackson Chourio homered on the first pitch of the game off Blake Snell
- Will Smith’s two run double in the sixth gave Los Angeles a brief 2-1 lead
- Jake Bauers hit a go ahead two run homer in the seventh at the end of an 11 pitch at bat; Garrett Mitchell followed with a solo homer
- Robert Gasser threw five scoreless innings, allowing three hits with three strikeouts
- Snell struck out nine but allowed four runs and three home runs
One Win From A Place Milwaukee Has Missed Since 1982
Milwaukee is now one win from its first World Series since 1982. That is the frame for everything that happened on Wednesday: a leadoff homer on the first pitch, a bullpen escape in the sixth, an 11 pitch home run in the seventh, and back to back homers that silenced Dodger Stadium. Robert Gasser’s five scoreless innings, on three hits with three strikeouts, gave the Brewers the platform for all of it.
There is even a Toronto comparison tucked into Milwaukee’s story. The Brewers hit 154 home runs in the regular season, the second fewest in the majors, ahead of only the Toronto Blue Jays at 152. This is not a lineup built on raw power. Yet in Game 3, Milwaukee homered on the first pitch, then homered back to back in the seventh to take the game and a 3-0 series lead. Los Angeles, the two time defending champion, must now win four straight or its title run ends here. Milwaukee needs one more win, at any point in this series, to go somewhere the franchise has not been in 44 years.
