Bauers and Mitchell homer as Brewers beat Dodgers to take 3-0 NLCS lead

The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, October 14, taking a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series. Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell hit consecutive home runs in the seventh inning after Los Angeles had gone ahead, leaving Milwaukee one win from the World Series.

How Bauers and Mitchell turned Game 3

Jackson Chourio put Milwaukee ahead 1-0 by homering on Blake Snell’s first pitch. Snell later retired 14 consecutive batters before the Brewers’ seventh-inning rally, according to the Guardian’s game report. The Dodgers had taken a 2-1 lead in the sixth on Will Smith’s two-run double off Abner Uribe.

Uribe had loaded the bases with walks before Smith’s hit. DL Hall replaced him and recorded two strikeouts while allowing one hit, limiting the damage in an inning that briefly shifted the lead to Los Angeles. Milwaukee’s response came in its next turn at bat.

Bauers homered against Snell on the 11th pitch of his at-bat, a drive reported at 412 feet. Mitchell followed with a reported 428-foot homer to right-center, ending Snell’s outing. The two swings reversed the score after Snell had kept Milwaukee’s hitters off the bases for much of the game.

What the 3-0 lead means for Game 4

Game 4 is scheduled for Thursday, October 15, at Dodger Stadium. A win there would send Milwaukee to the World Series; Los Angeles must win to keep the series going. The Dodgers had not hit a home run through the first three games of the NLCS, according to the Guardian’s account.

The Guardian reported that the Dodgers had entered a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven postseason series only once before: against Baltimore in the 1966 World Series, when they were swept. That precedent shows the scale of the task facing Los Angeles, while Thursday’s game will determine whether this series continues.