For the second consecutive NLCS game, Jake Bauers has delivered.
The Milwaukee Brewers first baseman worked a 12-pitch at-bat in Game 2 on Monday, fouling off six straight pitches from Los Angeles Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto before taking ball four to load the bases with two outs. Christian Yelich then ripped a go-ahead RBI single into center field. The Brewers went on to win Game 2 7-4.
There was an overwhelming sense of deja vu in Game 3 on Wednesday.
Blake Snell had been dealing, retiring 14 Brewers batters in a row after giving up a leadoff homer to Jackson Chourio on the first pitch of the game. That streak ended when he walked Andrew Vaughn to lead off the top of the seventh. Enter Bauers. The 31-year-old fouled off five pitches from Snell, the most dangerous of which was a hard liner on a hanging slider that he pulled just foul to right before it could clear the stands.
Snell got away with that one. The next pitch, the 11th of the at-bat, however, a 97.8 mph fastball in the exact same location, would be a different story.
Bauers got all of it, driving the ball 412 feet to right field for a no-doubt, go-ahead home run.
Garrett Mitchell added on with a 428-footer of his own two pitches later, putting an end to the former Cy Young winner's night as the Brewers took a late 4-2 lead on the Dodgers.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jake Bauers' brilliant at-bat gives Brewers lead in NLCS Game 3 over Dodgers