LOS ANGELES — The Milwaukee Brewers are one win away from flipping the script on last year's National League Championship Series sweep, powering past the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 in Game 3 on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium to take a 3-0 series lead.
Milwaukee did it with an unlikely power surge. Jackson Chourio opened the game with a leadoff home run on the first pitch, and Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell went back-to-back in the seventh to take the lead for good against Blake Snell, who had not allowed a home run in 46 1/3 innings this season including the postseason. The outburst was rare for a Brewers team that hit just 154 home runs in the regular season — fewer than every National League club by at least a dozen and second-fewest in the majors behind Toronto's 152 — and had only 10 three-homer games all year, the fewest in baseball, yet it showed how a 103-win team can win in multiple ways.
The Dodgers now need offense and a steady start from Game 4 starter Tyler Glasnow to extend their season. Glasnow was not sharp in his lone start this postseason, walking five over 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves, and he carries mixed results in three prior potential elimination starts — 2 2/3 innings in a loss in Game 5 of the 2019 ALDS against Houston, 2 1/3 scoreless innings in Game 5 of the 2020 ALDS against the New York Yankees, and five scoreless innings in Game 2 of the 2022 Wild Card Series against Cleveland in an eventual 1-0 loss in 15 innings. "I think he's going to pitch well," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "He's fresh. He's got a lot of arm talent. He's got experience, certainly, in the postseason." Los Angeles is averaging just 3.0 runs per game this October after averaging 5.1 over the previous two postseasons, with Shohei Ohtani (.515 OPS), Freddie Freeman (.664 OPS) and Mookie Betts (.586 OPS) quiet, Teoscar Hernández (.522 OPS) limited since homering in the postseason opener, Will Smith 2-for-27 (.074) despite a clutch two-out two-run double Wednesday, and Kyle Tucker (.304, .885 OPS) the only regular producing.
Milwaukee's bullpen workload remains a question. Abner Uribe, pitching for the seventh time in seven games this postseason, recorded only one out while walking the bases loaded before allowing Smith's go-ahead two-run double in the sixth. "Abner not throwing strikes is unusual, but he's been good seven straight playoff games," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "... We believe in him. He didn't have his control tonight." Closer Trevor Megill, pitching for the fifth time this postseason and going more than one inning for the second time, retired all four batters he faced with two strikeouts. Milwaukee will lean heavily on its relievers again in Game 4 with a starter to be determined, and behind expected Game 5 starter Jacob Misiorowski if the series continues.
Los Angeles does not have to look far for belief. Roberts played a key role in the only 3-0 comeback in postseason history, stealing a base as a pinch-runner against Mariano Rivera in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS and scoring the tying run on Bill Mueller's single as Boston rallied past the New York Yankees in 12 innings and won the series in seven games despite Roberts not recording a plate appearance that postseason. "It's certainly possible," Roberts said. "I've lived it." The reminder that a spark can come from anywhere is what the Dodgers need as they try to avoid a sweep, a deficit that has historically been nearly insurmountable as only one team has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit.