LOS ANGELES — Blake Snell had set down 14 Milwaukee hitters in a row, and the Dodgers had finally pulled ahead, when Jake Bauers came to the plate with a runner on. Eleven pitches later the lead belonged to the other dugout.
Bauers’ two-run homer turned a 2-1 Los Angeles advantage into a 3-2 Milwaukee one on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. Garrett Mitchell followed two pitches later with a solo shot, and the Milwaukee Brewers went on to win Game 3 of the National League Championship Series 6-2. They lead the best-of-seven series 3-0 and are one win from their first World Series since 1982.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were not routed. They led for a single half-inning, and an offense that had barely functioned all October could not add a run to it. One more loss ends the defending champions’ bid for a third straight title.
The at-bat itself took five foul balls before Bauers hit the one he wanted. Fox Sports reported that it was his first home run of this postseason. SB Nation, carried by Yahoo Sports, put the exit velocity at 109.4 mph, on a middle-middle fastball into the right-field seats; Mitchell’s homer left the bat at 111.5 mph and travelled 428 feet. It was the second time in three days that Bauers had made a Dodgers starter labor. In NLCS Game 2 he worked a 12-pitch walk against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and the Brewers scored in that inning too.
Milwaukee’s night had started the opposite way, with a swing at the first pitch. Snell’s first pitch of the game was a 97.6 mph fastball over the middle of the plate, and Jackson Chourio sent it out for a 1-0 lead, a leadoff homer that left his bat at 106.1 mph. Fox Sports noted it was Snell’s first pitch in 10 days.
Snell then settled in. According to Dodgers Nation, carried by Yahoo Sports, he struck out nine and retired 14 in a row after the leadoff homer. Afterward he called the three homers frustrating, said he had not allowed one in his limited work this season, and said he had thrown Bauers everything he had, including a fastball he wished he had located better. Los Angeles, he said, now has to show how it bounces back.
On the other side, Robert Gasser kept the Dodgers off the board for five innings and struck out three. DL Hall took the win and Trevor Megill the save, the kind of bullpen handoff that also decided NLCS Game 1, a 2-1 Milwaukee win. Game 4 is Thursday at Dodger Stadium, with Tyler Glasnow expected to start for Los Angeles. SB Nation anticipated Dustin May and Aaron Ashby carrying much of the Brewers’ innings, though Milwaukee had not confirmed a starter in the coverage available Wednesday night.
Los Angeles’ one lead came from a hitter the Brewers’ own manager had defended before the game. Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said, “I know the numbers aren’t there,” while adding that Will Smith looked good in his swing and approach. The numbers were ugly: Smith started the postseason 1-for-23 with one single, one walk and eight strikeouts through six games, per Fox Sports. In the sixth he doubled home two runs with the bases loaded off Abner Uribe, and the Dodgers, who entered the night 2-for-26 with runners in scoring position, took the lead.
Josue De Paula, Kiké Hernández and Tommy Edman then came off the bench with a chance to add to it. None did, and Hernández and Edman struck out.
