Jeff Birney
The Dodgers took a 3-2 NLCS lead Wednesday in a dominating win over the Brewers in Los Angeles, Clayton Kershaw leading the charge with a stellar performance, going seven innings and striking out nine.
And rather than swing for the fences, something the Dodgers did to win games all regular season, L.A. bested the Brewers with the small ball, plinking hits wherever they could find a hole. And as Cody Bellinger put it:
“Our approach was single them to death.”
Which was exactly what they did, getting nine hits without a long ball one.
The Dodgers won, 5-2.
Rewind two days: calling Tuesday night’s matchup between the Dodgers and Brewers for Game 3 of the NLCS a pitcher’s dual may be a slight understatement. 13 innings of grueling pitching matchups exhausted both the Dodgers and Brewers bullpens, neither side being able to make much of a crack in the opposing defense.
The Dodgers struck out a record-setting (postseason) 17 times.
In the end, none of those 17 SOs mattered as Manny Machado singled in the 13th inning, with 1 out and the score tied 1-1. Machado stole second and Bellinger brought him home with a walk-off, winning single.
The Dodgers need just one more victory for a return to the World Series.
The NLCS resumes Friday in Milwaukee. Hyun-Jin Ryu is slated to start (and Wade Miley may pitch for more than one batsman for the Brewers this time.)
Game time is 5:39 pm, PST.
