Milwaukee relievers snuff out L.A. again
LOS ANGELES — Jhoulys Chacin combined with four relievers on a fivehitter, Orlando Arcia hit a two-run homer and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-0, Monday night at Dodger Stadium to take a 2-1 lead in the National League Championship Series.
Los Angeles loaded the bases against Jeremy Jeffress in the ninth inning, but the struggling closer shut the door. He struck out catcher Yasmani Grandal and pinchhitter Brian Dozier to complete Milwaukee’s third shutout in six playoff games this year.
Of all the chants that could have emanated from the Dodger Stadium stands in the eighth inning, “We want Austin!” was not exactly the most likely.
But after Grandal committed his third passed ball of the series, the voices of exasperated fans pleading for his unsung backup, Austin Barnes, improbably echoed through Chavez Ravine.
And when Grandal struck out on three pitches with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, he only heard boos.
The fans’ vocal disappointment was mostly a measure of their dissatisfaction with Grandal, who is having a miserable postseason in every aspect. The veteran catcher dropped to 3 for 22 in the playoffs with 10 strikeouts despite a popup that turned into a ground-rule double in Game 3.
Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, with lefthander Rich Hill pitching for Los Angeles against 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 postseason homer in the seventh.
Chacin scattered three hits over 5⅓ innings before giving way to Corey Knebel, who worked 1⅔ perfect innings and struck out his final four batters.
With a runner on second and Milwaukee nursing a 2-0 lead, Knebel got Manny Machado to ground out before whiffing Cody Bellinger to end the sixth. The righthander 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, struck out pinch-hitters David Freese and Matt Kemp to end the eighth.
“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,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said.
Justin Turner singled and Machado doubled to start the ninth for Los Angeles. Bellinger popped out before Puig drew a walk, but Brewers manager Craig Counsell stayed with Jeffress, who settled down and came through.
Milwaukee became the first visiting team to pitch a postseason 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, the second-longest streak in major league history behind 61 in a row for the Boston Red Sox, according to STATS.
The 1905 New York Giants and 1966 Orioles are the only other teams to toss three shutouts in their first six games of a postseason, STATS said.
The Brewers entered these playoffs with one shutout in their postseason history.
Strong wind gusts were raking Dodger Stadium ahead of the game.
The first fall Santa Ana winds arrived earlier in the day. The warm, sustained gusts blow from the desert to the ocean, but rarely affect the stadium on the northern edge of downtown Los Angeles.
During batting practice, the flags in center field blew in with the temperature around 80 degrees.
Palm trees in the outfield waved in the wind.
Barnes described it as one of the windier days he had experienced at the stadium. Teammate Chris Taylor said the wind was knocking balls to the right a bit, but he expected the wind to die down by game time.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he wasn’t sure how the wind would affect the flight of the ball during the game, but expected the ball “to be flying a little bit.”
The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning for most of the mountains around the Los Angeles basin. The downtown area was under a lower-level “wind advisory” that expired before the game started.