The Brewers dropped their third straight in the NLCS against the Dodgers on Thursday night, as a lack of offense, an untimely mistake, and another injury to their star player spelled their demise at Dodger Stadium.
For just the second time this series (the other being the ninth inning in Game 1), the Brewers got a pair of runners on in the first, as William Contreras drew a two-out walk before Christian Yelich reached on an infield single, ending his hitless streak that spanned back to the middle of the NLDS. Andrew Vaughn grounded out to end the inning, however, and Tyler Glasnow was through one scoreless.
With opener Aaron Ashby on the hill for the Brewers, things got off to an inauspicious start, especially for a team facing a 2-0 series deficit. Shohei Ohtani started things off with a triple to right, and Mookie Betts followed a pitch later with an RBI double. Ashby bounced back to strike out Will Smith before walking Freddie Freeman, and that would be all for him.
Rookie flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski entered for Ashby with traffic on the bases, but he got out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts.
The Brewers responded right away in the second, with Caleb Durbin tripling on a ball just out of reach of a diving Enrique Hernández in left. Jake Bauers then singled with the infield in to tie it up at 1-1. After Bauers stole second base, Glasnow made a throwing error on a pickoff attempt, allowing Bauers to move to third with one out and putting Milwaukee in position to take the lead.
With the infield once again in, Joey Ortiz hit a grounder to Max Muncy at third, who made a nice sliding play to his left and threw home in time to cut down Bauers. Chourio followed with a hard-hit line drive to right, but it was right at Teoscar Hernández, and Glasnow was out of the inning with the score still tied.
Both Glasnow and Miz settled in nicely from there.
Miz struck out another and worked around a two-out single in the second before Glasnow struck out the side against the top of Milwaukee’s order in the third. Miz responded with a 1-2-3 inning of his own in the third, striking out a pair.
Glasnow then picked up three more strikeouts in the fourth, though he had to work around a two-out walk by Durbin, who then stole second.
Misiorowski set the Dodgers down in order again in the fourth, with two more strikeouts. Glasnow set Milwaukee’s 9-1-2 hitters down in order with a pair of groundouts and a lineout, and the Dodgers went 1-2-3 in the fifth as well.
With the game still knotted at 1-1, Glasnow’s pitch count in the sixth was getting close to 100, meaning Milwaukee had a chance to break through to L.A.’s bullpen. Glasnow set down Contreras and Yelich, but after Vaughn walked, Dave Roberts pulled him in favor of Alex Vesia. Vesia proceeded to strike Sal Frelick out on three pitches, and the inning was over.
With Misiorowski still pitching in the sixth, the Dodgers finally put together some offense against the rookie.
After he struck out Betts — his ninth of the night, setting a new Brewers’ postseason rookie record, and tying the franchise record for strikeouts in a playoff game — Miz allowed a single to Smith and walked Freeman. Tommy Edman then put the Dodgers up, driving a single up the middle that Frelick was unable to throw in on time. Freeman advanced to third on the throw, and that was it for Miz.
Abner Uribe entered and struck out T. Hernández, but he then made a costly error by attempting to pick Edman off at first. The throw bounced away, allowing Freeman to score from third and extending the lead to 3-1. Muncy grounded out to end the inning, but the damage was done as the Dodgers were just nine outs from taking a 3-0 series lead.
Durbin, building on his solid day, led off the seventh with a response, driving a double to left. Bauers flew out, though, and Vesia was replaced by Blake Treinen. Isaac Collins, who pinch-hit for Joey Ortiz, popped out against Treinen, and Chourio was up looking to get at least one run across.
After falling into an 0-2 hole, Chourio fouled another pitch off, but he came up awkwardly and hopped around the home plate area. After trying to work it out, he ultimately hopped his way down into the Brewers’ dugout, and he was out of this game. It’s unclear as of this writing what the nature of the injury is; it could have easily been some cramping, but it was also in the area of his right hamstring, which has given him problems for the last two-plus months, including during Milwaukee’s postseason run.
Author’s Note: While Chourio was hopping around, Dodgers fans at the stadium booed him — loud enough to be picked up on the TV broadcast, which is saying something. Stay classy, L.A.
UPDATE: After the game, it was announced that Chourio indeed was dealing with cramps. He’s expected to play in Game 4 on Friday.
Blake Perkins entered for Chourio with an 0-2 count, and he ultimately struck out, though the at-bat (and therefore the strikeout) was credited to Chourio.
In the bottom of the seventh, Andruw Monasterio entered at shortstop (replacing Collins, who replaced Ortiz), and Perkins remained in at center, pushing Frelick over to right field. Uribe was back out after finishing the sixth, and he got a pop-up from E. Hernández before striking out Andy Pages. Pat Murphy then pulled him for Jared Koenig, who struck out Ohtani on five pitches, four of which were outside the zone.
Anthony Banda took the eighth for the Dodgers and set Brice Turang, Contreras, and Yelich down in order, continuing Milwaukee’s woes at the plate.
Koenig returned for the eighth, striking out Betts before walking Smith. Freeman then bounced into a force out, taking the place of Smith at first. Koenig set Edman down looking, and it would be up to the Brewers’ bats to come back against rookie starter-turned-postseason-reliever Roki Sasaki, who struggled with his command in Game 1 of the NLCS back on Monday.
Sasaki didn’t face those issues tonight, however, inducing a groundout from Vaughn (on a nice Derek Jeter-esque play), a pop-up from Frelick, and striking out Durbin to end the game quickly.
Misiorowski was great until his last inning, totaling five frames with nine strikeouts and two runs allowed (one earned) on three hits and a walk. Uribe and Koenig both had scoreless outings, but it wasn’t enough as the Brewer bats were once again quiet.
Durbin had two of Milwaukee’s four hits, totaling five bases with a double and triple. He also drew a walk. Bauers had the only RBI with his single in the second, but the team’s 12 strikeouts and a 1-for-7 night with runners in scoring position is not ideal against a team that can score like the Dodgers.
Now in a 3-0 hole, the Brewers will do all they can to salvage at least one game with two more games scheduled for Los Angeles. They’ll look to get that win on Friday night at 7:38 p.m. CT, with Jose Quintana expected to start against Ohtani for the Dodgers.
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