The Milwaukee Brewers produced a late home run blitz to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 and leave the reigning World Series champions on the brink of elimination from Major League Baseball's playoffs on Wednesday.
Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell blasted back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning to hand the Brewers a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship series.
The star-studded Dodgers line-up – chasing a rare hat-trick of World Series triumphs --- now need a miracle if they are to advance to baseball's championship series for a third consecutive season.
Only one team in MLB history – the 2004 Boston Red Sox – has overturned a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven postseason series.
The Dodgers, well-beaten in the opening two games of the series in Milwaukee, had looked poised to haul themselves off the canvas after finally clawing their way into a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning thanks to Will Smith's two-run double.
That rally came after starting pitcher Blake Snell produced a dazzling performance from the mound to keep the reigning MLB champions in the game.
Although Snell had given up a home run to Jackson Chourio off his very first pitch, the two-time Cy Young Award winner shut down the Brewers offense thereafter to keep the deficit to one run.
Yet for much of the early innings the Dodgers bats were unable to capitalize on the brilliance of Snell, who finished with nine strikeouts.
The Dodgers' out-of-sorts superstar Shohei Ohtani had been bumped into sixth place in the lineup but the change made little impression.
The Brewers' starting pitcher Robert Gasser was coolly efficient through five scoreless innings to shut down the Dodgers' struggling offense.
The Dodgers fortunes improved in the sixth inning when the Brewers brought in reliever Abner Uribe, who walked Teoscar Hernandez and Kyle Tucker to start his spell on the mound.
After Max Muncy struck out, Ohtani drew a walk to load the bases with one out. Smith's double then put the Dodgers into a 2-1 lead as the stadium erupted.
But crucially the Dodgers were unable to add to their tally and in the seventh inning, the Brewers made them pay.
After Andrew Vaughn walked, Bauers crushed the 11th pitch of his at-bat into right field to make it 3-2.
Despite the signs Snell was wearying after 100 pitches, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts left the ace to face Garrett Mitchell who promptly blasted a 428-foot shot into center-field for a 4-2 lead.
Another run off a wild pitch from Dodgers reliever Justin Wrobleski made it 5-2 in the eighth inning.
Ohtani gave the Dodgers fleeting hope with a two-out single in the bottom of the eighth, but Smith flew out off Trevor Megill to end the inning.
The relentless Brewers offense tacked on another run in the top of the ninth and Megill took care of the final three Dodgers outs to seal victory.
rcw/bb