BREW CREW FORCES GAME 7
Brewers break out early against Dodgers to force Game 7 of NLCS
MILWAUKEE — The return home, a few big hits early and plenty of dominant bullpen work. There you had the recipe Friday for the Brewers to turn this NLCS into a one-game winner-take-all.
It’s Game 7 on Saturday night for the right to play the Red Sox in the World Series. The Brewers have the momentum in their favor following a 7-2 victory over the Dodgers in Game 6 before a sellout crowd of 43,619 at Miller Park.
Corey Knebel, Jeremy Jeffress and Corbin Burnes combined to pitch 4 2/3 innings of hitless and scoreless relief on a night the Brewers scored five early runs and went into a prevent defense.
“The pressure is the pressure,” Jeffress said. “It’s going to be in the house the whole game [Saturday]. I think it’s more on them because they are on the road.”
The bullpen’s dominance and a late offensive surge meant Brewers manager Craig Counsell didn’t need ace lefty reliever Josh Hader, who will be fully rested for the series finale. How many innings could Hader pitch Saturday?
“Twelve,” Counsell said jokingly. “He’s fresh. He got up tonight. We’ll see how he goes. But you will see him [Saturday].”
With a victory the Brewers will advance to their first World Series since 1982, when they were still in the American League. The Dodgers are trying to win consecutive pennants for the first time since 1977-78, when they lost to the Yankees in the World Series both years. The Dodgers haven’t won a World Series since 1988.
Brewers ace Jhoulys Chacin will get the call for Game 7. The righthander has not allowed a run in his two starts this postseason, including Game 3 of this series, in which he pitched 5 ¹/3 scoreless innings. The Dodgers are expected to pitch rookie Walker Buehler, who has struggled in his two starts this postseason and posted a 6.75 ERA. But don’t be surprised if ace Clayton Kershaw is summoned early to pitch in relief.
“I think Walker is prepared for this moment,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “As far as his rest, he’s ready to go. And as far as his heartbeat, the weapons, all that stuff, we’re in really good shape with him.”
The Brewers scored just three runs in their final 22 innings in Los Angeles, but came out smoking against lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu, sending nine batters to the plate in the first inning and taking a 4-1 lead.
Jesus Aguilar finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs to lead the Brewers’ 11-hit attack.
Aguilar smashed a two-run double that gave the Brewers a 2-1 lead in the first, but that was just the start. After Mike Moustakas delivered an RBI double, Erik Kratz singled in another run.
The Brewers’ lead swelled to 5-1 in the second on Ryan Braun’s RBI double. Christian Yelich, who entered batting .150 in the NLCS, started the rally with a double.
In the eighth, the Brewers rallied for an insurance run on Kenta Maeda’s wild pitch. Aguilar’s leadoff double sparked the rally. Aguilar then stroked an RBI single in the eighth for the Brewers’ final run.
Lefty Wade Miley, who started Game 5 as a decoy, but was removed after one batter, lasted 4 ¹/3 innings this time and allowed two earned runs on five hits and two walks. In his Game 2 start, Miley pitched 5 2/3 shutout innings, but Justin Turner’s home run against Jeffress sent the series to Los Angeles tied.
David Freese homered against Miley leading off the game Friday. The Dodgers didn’t strike again until the fifth, when Freese’s RBI double sliced the Brewers’ lead to 5-2.
“[Hader] is their best reliever and obviously you would have liked to have kept the game close enough to have them use him tonight,” Roberts said. “They got away tonight because of the run differential, they didn’t have to use him.”