Back-to-Back Homers in the Seventh Lift Brewers Past Dodgers 6-2 as Milwaukee Takes 3-0 NLCS Lead
The Milwaukee Brewers are one win from their first World Series appearance since 1982 after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 in Game 3 of the NLCS at Dodger Stadium. Jackson Chourio's first-pitch leadoff homer and a seventh-inning back-to-back from Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell flipped the game and left the Dodgers facing a 3-0 series hole no one but the 2004 Red Sox has ever climbed out of.
Milwaukee is nine innings from the National League pennant. The Brewers silenced Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night with a 6-2 win in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven and moving within one victory of the franchise's first World Series trip since 1982.
Jackson Chourio set the tone immediately, drilling Blake Snell's first pitch of the game over the fence for a leadoff home run — his second homer of the playoffs and the second leadoff homer of his young postseason career. Starter Robert Gasser was sharp early for Milwaukee, retiring the Dodgers in order in the first with some help from a successful challenge by catcher William Contreras.
Los Angeles briefly took the lead in the sixth when Will Smith's two-run double scored Teoscar Hernández and Kyle Tucker, but the advantage lasted minutes. In the top of the seventh, Snell walked Andrew Vaughn to lead off and then lost an 11-pitch battle with Jake Bauers, who crushed a go-ahead two-run homer. Dave Roberts left Snell in, and Garrett Mitchell followed two pitches later with another solo shot to make it 4-2.
Milwaukee tacked on insurance late: Brice Turang scored on a Justin Wrobleski wild pitch in the eighth, and Joey Ortiz's ninth-inning single plated Cooper Pratt. The Dodgers now face history — only the 2004 Boston Red Sox have ever rallied from 3-0 down in a Championship Series. Game 4 is Thursday night back at Dodger Stadium.