Brewers pitchers silence Dodgers
LOS ANGELES — A veteran starter, an intimidating bullpen and a twice-demoted shortstop who is suddenly flashing power helped the Milwaukee Brewers take a 2-1 lead in the NL Championship Series.
Jhoulys Chacin combined with four relievers on a five-hitter and Orlando Arcia hit a two-run homer in a 4-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday.
Los Angeles loaded the bases against Jeremy Jeffress in the ninth inning, but the struggling closer shut the door. He struck out Yasmani Grandal and pinch-hitter Brian Dozier to complete Milwaukee’s third shutout in six playoff games this year.
“Our guys that we’re giving the ball to at the start of the game, they’re doing a heck of a job, man. And they’re setting the tone, really,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said.
Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is tonight at Dodger Stadium, with Rich Hill pitching for Los Angeles against fellow lefty Gio Gonzalez.
Ryan Braun had an early RBI double off rookie Walker Buehler, who struck out eight in seven innings. Travis Shaw tripled and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth. Arcia connected for his third post-season homer in the seventh.
Chacin scattered three hits over 5 1/3 innings before giving way to Corey Knebel, who worked 1 2/3 perfect innings and struck out his last four batters.
With a runner on second and the Brewers nursing a 2-0 lead, Knebel got Manny Machado to ground out before whiffing Cody Bellinger to end the sixth. The right-hander then fanned Yasiel Puig, Grandal and Enrique Hernandez in the seventh.
Joakim Soria retired Chris Taylor on a foul popup for the first out of the eighth. Josh Hader, who didn’t pitch in Game 2 after tossing three scoreless innings in the opener, needed only eight pitches to strike out pinchhitters David Freese and Matt Kemp to end the eighth.
Hader rarely pitches on consecutive days, but his light workload Monday could give Counsell some options.
“We’re playing to win the series, not just games. Obviously with Josh doing not as much tonight, there’s lots of possibilities there going forward,” Counsell said.
Justin Turner singled and Machado doubled to start the ninth for Los Angeles. Bellinger popped out and slammed his bat before Puig drew a walk, but Counsell stayed with Jeffress, who settled down and came through.
Milwaukee’s vaunted bullpen delivered after the Dodgers hit .333 and scored eight of their nine runs against Brewers relievers during the first two games in Milwaukee, both decided by one run.
The Dodgers also came up empty against Chacin with the bases loaded in the second, when Buehler took a called third strike to end the inning.
“We had the right guys in those moments and we just didn’t execute,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We were 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position.”
The Brewers became the first visiting team to pitch a post-season shutout at Dodger Stadium since the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of the 1983 NLCS. Los Angeles had gone 50 consecutive home playoff games without being blanked.