In stretches, the Brewers seemed primed to let the National League Championship Series slip out of their grasp. They followed a blown Game 2 with two losses in three games in Los Angeles, watching the offense sputter when they needed it most.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers drew uncomfortably close to seizing a return trip to the World Series. Clayton Kershaw carved through Milwaukee’s lineup as few had during the 2018 regular season. Los Angeles’ bullpen proved superior to the highly touted Brewers group through five games. The Brewers’ backs were against the wall, manager Craig Counsell said, and with Friday being an elimination game, they needed to break out of the funk.
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At last, at least for one night, they did.
“Huge,” second baseman Travis Shaw said after a 7-2 victory over the Dodgers on Friday. “Guys stepped up. Didn’t try to be the hero, just passed it to the next guy.”
Brewers players spoke with a swagger and confidence that had gone missing, joking in the clubhouse postgame. “Tell Corey that JJ had the better at-bat,” reliever Jeremy Jeffress said at his locker, referencing the at-bat Corey Knebel took in the fifth inning. The Brewers had been locked in a haze, despite players’ cases to the contrary. Milwaukee entered Game 6 with questions surrounding the team, specifically the offensive woes and the gas gauge on a bullpen that has been used heavily throughout the season.
Friday night, the Brewers put a stop to those questions, responding to a leadoff home run by David Freese by scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning, all coming with two outs. All four runs came on three pitches from Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu. In the process, the Brewers pushed things to a winner-take-all Saturday Game 7.
There will be a celebration in Milwaukee, either coming from the Brewers’ clubhouse or the visitors’ clubhouse toward the third-base side at Miller Park. From a payroll perspective, the Dodgers are the superior team compared with the small-market Brewers. For the most part, despite their struggles, Milwaukee has proved capable of hanging with the 2017 National League champions. The Brewers now stand one victory away from punching a ticket to Boston to take on the Red Sox in the World Series.
And they couldn’t have set themselves up better.
Make no mistake, it will not be easy. Walker Buehler, Los Angeles’ electric young starting pitcher, presents a formidable matchup. Shaw mentioned earlier in the series that he believes Buehler has the best pure stuff of anyone in the Dodgers’ rotation — over even Kershaw, whom most Brewers refer to as “the greatest pitcher of our generation.” And the Dodgers’ lineup, which has presented various problems with their depth, stands in the way.
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But the Brewers will match up with their best, too. Jhoulys Chacin has been Milwaukee’s most dependable starter through the season, proving durable and stepping up in the biggest moments during their regular-season and postseason runs. He will yet again rely on the slider that injected new life into his career, the one that has made him Milwaukee’s most reliable starting pitcher. He hasn’t allowed a run in his past 16 innings, including a 5 1/3-inning appearance when he allowed three hits earlier in the series.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Chacin said before Game 6. “To be pitching in October is ….” He paused, then finished. “I guess I can’t explain.”
The Brewers use their pitching differently than traditionalists, pulling their initial out-getters after one batter. The first six games of the series have produced a managerial chess match unlike anything we have ever seen. But Game 7, at least early on, should prove normal, with Chacin eating multiple innings.
But after that, all bets are off. And this is where the Brewers prove to be in excellent shape.
They managed to stay away from Josh Hader on Friday, opting to go with Corbin Burnes for two innings to close the game. Hader hasn’t pitched since Game 4, meaning he will be on five days’ rest entering Saturday. Hader will pitch, Counsell said, joking that he can go 12 innings.
Knebel pitched 1 2/3 innings, featuring his upper-90s fastball with a plus breaking ball. Jeffress was electric, moving through the Dodgers lineup with ease. He showed glimpses of his regular-season self — which, after the recent problems he’s faced on the mound, came as a welcome sight. Game 6 was finished off with Burnes in the final two innings, and he put down six consecutive batters in the heart of the potent Dodgers lineup.
“Anybody, anytime, anywhere,” said Jeffress, referencing the motto bullpen coach Lee Tunnell has spread through the pitching staff.
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Said Knebel: “We’re ready to go. Starters get as much as they can done, but you go as long as you can for as long as you can and come in and finish the rest. That’s our job.”
Milwaukee has operated with the same premise through most of the season, especially in September, when it finished next-to-last in the National League in rotation innings, ahead of the 96-loss Padres.
That premise: The Brewers do not have enough starting pitching. Even with Chacin on the mound, they will use the bullpen aggressively. Hader will be available for multiple innings. Everyone on the roster, except for Wade Miley, will be available, multiple players said.
“All hands on deck,” Jeffress told The Athletic.
Some will deny how well the Brewers sit for Game 7, as catcher Erik Kratz did, saying: “They saved Kenley Jensen, too, so they’re in as good of shape as us.” Others, however, are willing to acknowledge where they stand – that in a winner-take-all game with a trip to the World Series at stake, the Brewers are amply positioned to advance.
“It’s all right there and it’s picture-perfect,” Shaw said. “Chacin, our guy. Hader’s fresh. One win away from the World Series. One win away from Boston. We’re going to be ready to go.”
(Photo by Jon Durr / USA Today)