Dodgers defeat Brewers to move to the verge of returning to the World Series

The Milwaukee Brewers have no chance.

Neither will the Seattle Mariners or the Toronto Blue Jays.

The clear truth emerged from the Dodger Stadium shadows late Thursday amid a downtown-shaking roar of delight and disbelief.

This is ridiculous. This is simply ridiculous, how well the Dodgers are playing, how close the history books are beckoning, and how an ordinary summer has been followed with unbelievable days of the extraordinary.

⚾ Dodgers 3, Brewers 1 — FINAL

Top of the ninth: Roki Sasaki took over on the mound for the Dodgers.

Mookie Betts made a spectacular cross-body, jumping throw in the grass behind third base to force out Andrew Vaughn at first base. Sal Frelick then hit an infield popup to Betts before Sasaki struck out Caleb Durbin.

Game 4 is on Friday.

×

⚾ Dodgers 3, Brewers 1 — Through eighth inning

Top of the eighth: Facing Dodgers reliever Anthony Banda, Brice Turang and William Contreras each flied out. Banda struck out Christian Yelich.

Bottom of the eighth: Jared Koenig struck out Mookie Betts. Will Smith drew a walk. Freddie Freeman then grounded into a forceout at second. Tommy Edman struck out to cap the frame.

⚾ Dodgers 3, Brewers 1 — Through seventh inning

Top of the seventh: Caleb Durbin hit a leadoff double to left field off Alex Vesia. Jake Bauers flied out to shallow center field to keep Durbin at second base.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts then turned to Blake Treinen, who got pinch-hitter Isaac Collins to pop out to second.

Jackson Chourio then sustained an apparent leg injury while swinging during his at-bat, and he left for the clubhouse. Pinch-hitter Jake Perkins took over with an 0-2 count and struck out to leave Durbin stranded at second.

Bottom of the seventh: Kiké Hernández popped out to short before Abner Uribe got Andy Pages on a called third strike outside the zone.

Jared Koenig then took over for Uribe and struck out Shohei Ohtani to end the inning.

⚾ Dodgers 3, Brewers 1 — Through sixth inning

Top of the sixth: William Contreras grounded out to short before Tyler Glasnow struck out Christian Yelich. Andrew Vaughn drew a walk, ending Glasnow’s stint on the mound.

Alex Vesia struck out Sal Frelick to cap the frame.

Glasnow gave up three hits and one earned run, with eight strikeouts and three walks over 5⅔ innings and 99 pitches.

Bottom of the second: Jacob Misiorowski struck out Mookie Betts. Will Smith then got the Dodgers’ first hit since the second inning on a single to left-center field. Freddie Freeman then drew a walk before Teoscar Hernández struck out.

Tommy Edman followed with a liner to center field for a single, scoring Smith from second to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

Brewers reliever Abner Uribe took over on the mound for Misiorowski after the Edman hit.

Freddie Freeman scored from third when Uribe tried to pick off Edman at first and threw the ball too low for Andrew Vaughn to grab, giving the Dodgers a 3-1 lead.

Max Muncy grounded out to end the inning.

⚾ Brewers 1, Dodgers 1 — Through fifth inning

Top of the fifth: Joey Ortiz and Jackson Chourio each grounded out to short before Brice Turang lined out to left field.

Bottom of the fifth: Kiké Hernández popped out to second base before Andy Pages grounded out and Shohei Ohtani struck out.

With cross-field shadows creating visual challenges for hitters, Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski has retired 10 in a row.

⚾ Brewers 1, Dodgers 1 — Through fourth inning

Top of the fourth: Tyler Glasnow struck out Andrew Vaughn and Sal Frelick before Caleb Durbin drew a walk. Durbin stole second base before Jake Bauers struck out.

Bottom of the fourth: Against Jacob Misiorowski, Tommy Edman struck out, Teoscar Hernández grounded out to short and Max Muncy struck out.

⚾ Brewers 1, Dodgers 1 — Through third inning

Top of the third: With shadows across the field creating challenging visibility conditions for hitters, Tyler Glasnow struck out Brice Turang, William Contreras and Christian Yelich.

Bottom of the third: Mookie Betts flied out sharply to deep center field before Jacob Misiorowski struck out Will Smith and Freddie Freeman.

⚾ Brewers 1, Dodgers 1 — Through second inning

Top of the second: Sal Frelick popped out to Mookie Betts behind third base.

Caleb Durbin then tripled to left field after Kiké Hernández missed the ball after diving for it. The ball went to the wall before Hernández could retrieve it, and Durbin just beat his throw to third.

Jake Bauers followed with a RBI single to center field to tie the score 1-1.

After Bauers stole second base, Tyler Glasnow tried to pick him off at second, but threw the ball into center field to let Bauers take third.

Max Muncy then made a sliding grab on a Joey Ortiz grounder and threw out Bauers at home plate. Jackson Chourio lined out to right field to end the inning.

Bottom of the second: Jacob Misiorowski got Max Muncy to ground out to second before striking out Kiké Hernández. Andy Pages singled down the third-base line that Caleb Durbin managed to stop, but couldn’t beat Pages with his throw. Shohei Ohtani grounded out to second base for the third out.

⚾ Dodgers 1, Brewers 0 — Through first inning

Top of the first: Facing Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow, Jackson Chourio lined out to Max Muncy at third base. Glasnow struck out Brice Turang before walking William Contreras on five pitches.

Christian Yelich followed with a soft chopper to the third-base side that Glasnow couldn’t field, giving Yelich an infield hit. Andrew Vaughn grounded into a forceout at third.

Bottom of the first: Shohei Ohtani led with a triple into the right-field corner Brewers opener Aaron Ashby. Ohtani stretched to rake an outside pitch down the right-field line.

Mookie Betts followed with an RBI double to right-center field to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.

Will Smith took a called third strike on a big-breaking curveball. Freddie Freeman drew a walk, ending Ashby’s stint on the mound.

Facing Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski, Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández struck out to strand Betts and Freeman.

The Dodgers aren’t supposed to be making this look so easy.

From Day One in spring training, this was the season storyline: Can the Dodgers become the first major league team in 25 years to repeat as champions?

Easy to understand. Hard to do.

But a deeper look reveals a degree of difficulty beneath the storyline.

The New York Yankees won the World Series in 2000 — their third consecutive championship — then lost the World Series in 2001.

At 5:37 p.m. Wednesday, Michael Buble’s “Feeling Good” blared from the Dodger Stadium speakers.

Shohei Ohtani came strolling to the plate with a bat in his hands.

There was no one in the stands, of course. Nor an opposing pitcher on the mound. The Dodgers, on this workout day after returning from Milwaukee, were still some 22 hours away from resuming their National League Championship Series against the Brewers. For any other player, it would have been a routine affair.

Ohtani, however, is not just any player.

Hi and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Somewhere in baseball heaven Fernando Valenzuela is saying to himself, “A complete game. What’s the big deal?”

The story of the postseason so far has been the starting pitching. Amazing. Let’s take a look at how the Dodgers’ starters have done:

NL wild-card series vs. Reds

Game 1: Blake Snell, 7 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 1 walk, 9 K’s, Dodgers win 10-5

MILWAUKEE — The Dodgers haven’t so much beaten opponents this postseason as they have worn them down. A lineup that underperformed for much of the summer has been relentless, resourceful and unstoppable in the fall.

And deep. Did we mention deep? Because while the Dodgers have stars at the top of that lineup, it’s been the players at the bottom who have done the most damage.

Tuesday’s 5-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series is the most recent example of that. The Brewers managed to keep Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman in check, only to see Teoscar Hernández, Tommy Edman, Kiké Hernández and Andy Pages knock them down repeatedly, combining for seven hits, three runs and three RBIs to give the Dodgers a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series which resumes Thursday at Dodger Stadium.

Here are the starting lineups for the Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday at Dodger Stadium:

Teoscar Hernández doesn’t believe in ghosts.

But just the same, the Dodgers outfielder declined to stay with the team at the historic — and allegedly haunted — Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee during the first two games of the National League Championship Series against the Brewers this week.

Hernández told reporters before Game 2 on Tuesday that his wife, Jennifer, was the one who insisted on finding somewhere to stay other than the 137-year-old hotel that has been the source of spooky tales from MLB players for decades.

“I don’t believe in ghosts. I have stayed there before. I never see anything or hear anything,” Hernández said. “But my wife is on this trip, and she says she doesn’t want to stay in there. So we have to find another hotel.”

MILWAUKEE — First things first: The fans in an outdoor stadium in Philadelphia are louder than the fans in an indoor stadium in Milwaukee. No contest.

They are respectful and truly nice here. They booed Shohei Ohtani, but half-heartedly, almost out of obligation. In Philadelphia, they booed Ohtani relentlessly, and with hostility.

Here’s the thing, though: It didn’t matter, because the Dodgers have silenced the enemy crowd wherever they go this October. The Dodgers are undefeated on the road in this postseason: 2-0 in Philadelphia, and now 2-0 in Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE — Technically, Roki Sasaki was available to pitch in relief for the Dodgers on Tuesday night.

Realistically, he wasn’t.

“I wouldn’t say unavailable,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “But it is unlikely that we will use him.”

Without the most electric arm in their unreliable bullpen, how could the Dodgers record the final outs required to win Game 2 of the National League Championship Series?

Here’s how: By making their bullpen a non-factor.

MILWAUKEE — He did not scream. He did not pump a fist. He showed hardly any of the emotions the moment seemed to call for, accomplishing something no major league pitcher had achieved in almost a decade.

Instead, after completing MLB’s first postseason complete game since 2017, and the first by a Dodgers pitcher since 2004, Yoshinobu Yamamoto simply walked around the mound, casually removed his glove, and didn’t break into a smile until he looked back at the center-field scoreboard.

“Wow,” he finally mouthed to himself, as the realization of his nine-inning, three-hit, one-run gem finally started to set in.

The Dodgers take on the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium on Thursday at 3:08 p.m. PDT.

The game will be televised on TBS, TruTV and HBO Max. Radio broadcasts in the Los Angeles area will be on 570 AM and 1020 AM (Español).

Here are the latest betting odds for Game 3 of the NLCS:

Here’s the TV schedule for the rest of the best-of-seven series (all times Pacific):

Game 4: Friday, 5:38 p.m. at Dodger Stadium | TBS, TruTV, HBO Max

*Game 5: Saturday, 5:08 p.m. at Dodger Stadium | TBS, HBO Max

*Game 6: Monday, 2:08 p.m. at Milwaukee | TBS, TruTV, HBO Max

*Game 7: Oct. 21, 5:08 p.m. at Milwaukee | TBS, TruTV, HBO Max

* if necessary