The Dodgers’ hope of a return to the National League Championship Series ended with the snap of the ball hitting the leather.
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio, sprinting toward the warning track, had to leap to catch Kiké Hernández’s line in the gap. But he managed to get the catch. And ended the Dodgers’ season.
The Dodgers’ hopes of making National League history with a three-peat came crashing down with a 6-4 loss to the Brewers on Thursday, completing Milwaukee’s four-game sweep.
“It sucked,” veteran outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. “Especially after (what) we’ve done the last two years. This year, early in the year, what we’ve been through, a lot of injuries throughout the year the last two years, a lot of ups and downs. It’s just unfortunate that we’re in this situation, but it’s part of the game.
“Someone has to win, someone has to lose. This time we were the ones who lost, and let’s just reflect on everything we didn’t do well this year and let’s just try to do it next year.”
As the Dodgers postseason video stated before the game: “October doesn’t remember who came close. He remembers who triumphs.”
The Dodgers, after bolstering their slate of back-to-back championships in the offseason and entering the year as World Series favorites, came up short. And instead, the Brewers will represent the National League, making their first trip to the Fall Classic in 44 years.
“They may have a group of Hall of Famers, but we have a group of players,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said from the stage. “And the players won this week.”
When the Dodgers lost 3-0 in the series, they faced a steep climb that only one team in MLB history has overcome. But the Dodgers showed their determination to start the game.
Three singles in the second inning gave the Dodgers the lead, with Andy Pages driving in the first run. It was his third postseason hit with runners in scoring position and the Dodgers’ fourth overall. Then, with two outs, Ohtani not only extended the inning, but also reached the Dodgers’ highest-scoring frame of the postseason, with their first home run of the series.
It’s been a maddening few months as Ohtani battled injuries, slipped through the batting order and failed to produce when the Dodgers needed him most – in the postseason.
Then on Thursday, with the Dodgers on the brink of elimination, a hit momentarily erased all that.
Ohtani hit the head of his bat against a cutter from former Dodgers pitcher Dustin May in the inside corner. He lifted it into the stands for a three-run home run.
Ohtani turned toward the Dodgers dugout, spread his arms wide and threw his bat aside. He raised his head to the sky and shouted. He punched the air.
This was the version of Ohtani that the Dodgers sorely lacked. He announced his return with authority. And he breathed life into a stadium which had only 49,104 spectators, almost sold out.
It was his first home run since August 18. And it had been even longer since he had hit a home run like that. With an exit velocity of 113.1 mph, it was his hardest home run since June 20 and his third hardest hit of the year, according to Statcast.
More importantly, it was the big swing the Dodgers had been waiting for all series.
“That’s something you don’t see very often from Shohei,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think it was a lot of pent-up anger, frustration. It was the best ball he’s hit in probably two, three months, and it was a big hit. So I think him looking at the dugout, showing that emotion, it shows how much he cares. He’s still human. He still cares and wants to help his team win a baseball game. It was a big hit.”
Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow kept the mood going by retiring the first 10 batters he faced. But the Brewers, as they had done in all the series, made a comeback.
“We got a nice lead, we got Glas on the mound, we’re confident behind him,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “And they just kept stringing together one good shot after another. They were just a little relentless.”
It started with one out in the fourth inning, as Brice Turang drew a walk, the leadoff baserunner against Glasnow. Then William Contreras and Jake Bauers each bounced doubles into the stands, with Bauers driving in two runs to cut the Dodgers’ lead in half.
Shohei Ohtani retires a runner at third in the seventh inning.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
The next inning, the Brewers used a walk, a stolen base and David Hamilton’s RBI single to cut the Dodgers’ lead to one and eliminate Glasnow from the game.
Right-hander Evan Phillips replaced him and loaded the bases the rest of the way, before left-hander Alex Vesia came in to face Bauers, who had been a nightmare for the Dodgers this series.
Vesia walked Bauers on four pitches, tying the score at 4-4.
The Dodgers had lost momentum, but they still had time.
Then, in the sixth, Dodgers setup man Tanner Scott took the mound early, at an inflection point in the contest. He worked ahead 0 and 2 in the count until Garrett Mitchell. But Mitchell coughed up three straight balls to get a full count.
Scott missed the middle with a fastball. Mitchell sent it over the fence to give the Brewers the lead for the first time.
Even down by one, Roberts continued to manage as if he had hope, bringing in Edwin Díaz in the seventh to keep the game close.
The Dodgers’ offense put runners on third in three straight innings. In the sixth, Kyle Tucker hit a one-out double and Teoscar Hernández moved him in with a groundout. In the seventh, Pages led off with a double and Kiké Hernández beat him. In the eighth, with one out, Will Smith struck out the man in the middle by doubling to the right field corner and advancing to third when Milwaukee’s Sal Frelick misplayed the carom against the wall.
The Dodgers stranded the three at third, failing to score the tying run.
“They just dominated us in this series,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “That’s how it goes. We had our opportunities. We just didn’t get it done.”
Díaz did his part to keep the Dodgers in the game, striking out eight straight batters. But the ninth batter he faced, Hamilton, hit a solo home run to add a cushion to the Brewers’ lead.
“I wouldn’t want to go through that with another group of guys,” Muncy said. “We’ve really tried to do something special in this clubhouse, and I know next year we’ll be ready to get back into it. But right now, it sucks.”
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