LOS ANGELES — Give them an inch, and they’ll take a mile. That philosophy is a big part of how the Brewers surged to the best record in baseball this year.
But through the first three games of the NL Championship Series, the Dodgers have been able to contain Brewers ball — and at times, even use it against them.
“That’s kind of what they thrive on,” Max Muncy said. “Creating havoc, creating chaos on the infield. They have a lot of speedsters, they steal a lot of bags and they have a lot of infield hits. Just trying to play as clean of baseball as we can, it’s been the difference, I think.”
The Dodgers are just one win away from returning to the World Series after beating the Brewers, 3-1, in Game 3 of the NLCS on Thursday afternoon at Dodger Stadium. After being swept by Milwaukee in the season series, Los Angeles now has the chance to sweep its way to back-to-back NL pennants.
A big reason why is that the Dodgers have beaten the Brewers at their own game, in several aspects. Here are some of the ways that played out in Game 3:
Flashing the leather
The Brewers looked the closest they had to playing their style of baseball in the second inning. Caleb Durbin sliced a one-out triple past a diving Kiké Hernández in left field. Jake Bauers tied the game by punching a single through a drawn-in infield. Then Bauers stole second base and advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt from Tyler Glasnow.
But before the Brewers could keep rolling, Muncy’s quick thinking helped the Dodgers nip any momentum in the bud. Muncy made a slick sliding stop on a Joey Ortiz grounder, firing a strike to the plate, where Will Smith had plenty of time to tag Bauers out and keep the game tied.
“I think that was the play of the game, for sure,” Glasnow said. “Just having a one-run ballgame, if it had turned into two, it’s a different story.”
Seven innings later, with Roki Sasaki on the mound to close out the game, Mookie Betts made another big play to keep the Brewers from gaining any ground. The Gold Glove finalist at shortstop ranged to the edge of the outfield grass to snare an Andrew Vaughn grounder, making a jump throw to first to beat Vaughn to the bag on one hop.
“That was a big play,” manager Dave Roberts said. “You just never know, get the leadoff runner on, how that inning could have evolved.”
Winning with small ball
When the Dodgers rallied to take the lead, they emulated what the Brewers do well by being aggressive on the basepaths.
After opener Aaron Ashby’s outing ended, L.A. hitters could hardly hit hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski, a task made even more difficult by the late-afternoon shadows at Dodger Stadium. But in the sixth, Smith broke through for a single and Freddie Freeman followed with a walk.
The table was set for Tommy Edman, who drove a slider up the middle for a base hit. Smith scored from second, and Freeman went first to third with a haphazard slide into the bag. That chased Misiorowski, bringing in Abner Uribe, who was pitching for the third time in as many games.
“[Misiorowski] throws 102 miles an hour, so you got to be ready for the fastball,” Edman said. “And I think the swing that I took, I just was able to stay through it.”
It wound up being important that Freeman got to third base. After striking out Teoscar Hernández, Uribe moved to pick off Edman at first base, even though Edman did not have a large lead and has had his mobility impacted by lingering discomfort in his right ankle. The throw was wild, and Freeman was able to score a key insurance run.
“I was really surprised,” Edman said of Uribe’s throw. “Glad it happened, though.”
Keeping the bases empty
The best method of preventing Brewers ball? Don’t let them get on base at all. Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto set the tone with two incredible performances in Milwaukee, and Glasnow and the bullpen kept it up once the series shifted back to L.A.
Glasnow scattered three hits and three walks across 5 2/3 innings. Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen, Anthony Banda and Sasaki put together a breakout effort for the ‘pen, combining to allow just one hit — and one total baserunner — across the final 3 1/3 innings.
The strong effort from the pitching staff has resulted in the Brewers looking unlike they have all season. That has left the Dodgers in control, one win away from where they want to be.
“If you would have told me the Dodgers would score 10 runs in three games, what would be the score? … You wouldn’t say 0-3,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “But we haven’t got the clutch hit. We’ve been a little bit foreign to how we’ve played in terms of contact.”
