Brewers sweep Dodgers, reach first World Series since 1982

The Milwaukee Brewers completed a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series on Thursday night, beating them 6-4 at Dodger Stadium to book their first World Series trip since 1982.

Milwaukee erased a 4-0 deficit in the clincher. Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run homer in the second inning, his first of this postseason, to give the two-time defending World Series champions an early cushion, but the Brewers answered and never let the Dodgers back in front once they took the lead.

William Contreras and Jake Bauers hit back-to-back doubles in the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 4-2, MLB.com reported. David Hamilton’s RBI single and a bases-loaded walk to Bauers tied the game in the fifth. Garrett Mitchell then led off the sixth with a go-ahead homer off Tanner Scott.

Hamilton, who hit just four home runs in the regular season, added a two-out solo shot off Edwin Díaz in the ninth to make it a two-run game. Left-hander Aaron Ashby recorded the final nine outs, stranding tying runs in scoring position in both the seventh and eighth innings. Jackson Chourio caught the final out near the warning track in left-centre.

Bauers was named NLCS most valuable player, according to MLB.com.

The result avenges last year’s series, in which the Dodgers swept the Brewers on the way to a second straight title. MLB.com said Milwaukee is the first team in baseball history to sweep a team in the NLCS the year after being swept by that same club. It also said the four-run comeback matched the largest to clinch a league championship series.

“We were playing with that chip on our shoulder,” Ashby said.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy put it in boxing terms. “You get in the ring and you fight a guy and you lose, you remember it,” Murphy said.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was blunt about the series. “We got outplayed in all facets,” Roberts said.

It is Milwaukee’s second World Series berth and first National League pennant since 1982, when the Brewers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games, NBC Los Angeles reported. The Dodgers’ bid for a third consecutive championship ends one round short of the Fall Classic.

The Brewers will host Game 1 of the World Series on Friday, Oct. 23, at American Family Field. Their opponent will be the winner of the American League Championship Series between the Cleveland Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays. Cleveland held a 2-1 lead in that series after winning Game 3 by a 3-2 score, as Canada News Media reported on Thursday.

Milwaukee took the first three games of the NLCS before Thursday’s clincher, including a 6-2 win in Game 3. The Dodgers had earlier eliminated the Atlanta Braves to reach a third straight NLCS.

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Via MLB.com and NBC Los Angeles.