Brewers sweep Rockies; Braves get back in L.A. series
With manager Craig Counsell making all the right moves, the Milwaukee Brewers completed a stunning — and stifling — National League Division Series sweep of the Colorado Rockies with a 6-0 win in Game 3 on Sunday.
Milwaukee’s pitching staff held Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story and the bruising Rockies to a combined two runs and 14 hits in the series. Of the 28 innings in the matchup, Colorado scored in only one of them.
“The story of the series for us was certainly our pitching,” Counsell said.
Sunday, Wade Miley pitched masterfully into the fifth inning before turning it over to a lights-out Milwaukee bullpen and journeyman catcher Erik Kratz kept up his torrid hitting as the Brewers won their 11 straight dating to the regular season and advance to their first NL Championship Series since 2011. They will play the winner of the Dodgers-Braves series, starting Friday at Miller Park — by the time that game starts, it will have been nearly three weeks since Milwaukee lost.
“One at a time, man. That’s what we’ve been saying, one at a time,” NL MVP candidate Christian Yelich said. “Focus on the now.”
It’s been that way for a couple weeks now, including Milwaukee’s 3-1 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field last Monday in the NL Central tiebreaker. The next day, the Rockies outlasted the Cubs 2-1 in 13 innings to win the wild-card game.
Making his postseason debut, Miley toughed the elements — he wore short sleeves when the temperature was 46 degrees — and was even tougher on Rockies hitters. The wily lefthander allowed three hits over 4 2/3 innings.
Kratz, who made his second postseason start, finished 3 for 4 with a double. Acquired from the New York Yankees in May for a player to be named, Kratz went 5 for 8 in the series.
Orlando Arcia and Keon Broxton hit back-to-back homers in the ninth off Wade Davis to make it 6-0 and end any sort of drama. Jesus Aguilar had a solo shot in the fourth that gave the Brewers a 2-0 lead.
That was more than enough against a Colorado offense that was shut out twice in the series and hit .146. Colorado’s three AllStars — Story, Arenado and Charlie Blackmon — finished the series with a combined five hits.
“We got into the dance. We fought, but we might not have played our best,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “Part of that is the opposition, how they played.” BRAVES 6, DODGERS 5 >> Reliever Arodys Vizcaino escaped his own jam in a nervy ninth inning and Atlanta cut their deficit in the NL Division Series to 2-1.
Rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a grand slam that helped the Braves build an early 5-0 lead. Atlanta blew that advantage, but Freddie Freeman hit a tiebreaking homer in the sixth.
Then in the ninth, the Dodgers got runners on first and second with no outs. Vizcaino came back from a 3-0 count to strike out slugger Max Muncy, then fanned Manny Machado on a wild pitch that moved the runners to second and third.
With the entire crowd at SunTrust Park standing, chanting and chopping, Vizcaino fanned a swinging Brian Dozier to end it.
Game 4 is today at Atlanta.
Shut out in the first two games at Dodger Stadium, the NL East champion Baby Braves bounced back.
“My heart’s still pounding,” Freeman said, moments after the last out. “That’s how we’ve been all year.”
“I like our chances. We’ve got a uniform on, so we know we’ve got a chance,” he said.
At 20, Acuna became the youngest player to hit a postseason grand slam — Mickey Mantle was 21 when he did it for the Yankees in the 1953 World Series.
Acuna connected in the second, right after Dodgers rookie Walker Buehler walked Braves starter Sean Newcomb on four pitches.
Freeman connected on the first pitch from former teammate Alex Wood to put Atlanta back on top.
Chris Taylor hit a tworun homer and Muncy added a tying homer in the fifth to lead the comeback for Los Angeles.
The Dodgers threatened in the sixth. Matt Kemp led off the inning with a double, but with one out was thrown out on shortstop Charlie Culberson’s throw to the plate.
Los Angeles was denied its second straight NLDS sweep after winning three straight over Arizona in 2017.