LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run in 58 days, and the Dodgers built an early lead. But the Milwaukee Brewers answered, as they did in every game of the National League Championship Series, and finished off the Dodgers with a 6-4 win in Game 4 on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium.
The Brewers advance to the World Series for the first time since 1982, and their first trip to the Fall Classic as a National League team.
Ohtani was adamant he was healthy and capable, that he was getting
very close mechanically, and manager Dave Roberts backed him. Though Ohtani and the team insisted he was healthy enough to play, it’s taken quite a while to figure things out. The Dodgers this postseason have placed Ohtani second, fourth, fifth, and even sixth in the lineup, but for Game 4 he was penciled into his familiar leadoff spot, for the first time since September 27.
“Just seeing the work the last couple days, I like where his head is at,” Roberts said before Game 4. “I liked the at-bats yesterday, and I felt that trying to shake it up a little bit.”
All that sowing finally brought reaping in the second inning of Game 4 with two runners on, when Ohtani unloaded on a cutter from former teammate Dustin May for a three-run shot and an early 4-0 lead.
Ohtani had 115 plate appearances between home runs, the longest drought of his career, hitting a paltry .156/.289/.229 with one run batted in and 37 strikeouts since his homer at Coors Field on August 18.
Four runs in the second was the Dodgers’ best inning of this postseason. Ohtani had the team’s first home run since the ninth inning of Game 4 of the National League Division Series, snapping a 118-plate-appearance skid.
“I think for us it’s just play free and easy. The facts are we haven’t hit. We’ve got two extra base hits in the series,” Roberts said. “So our baseball is hitting, slugging, and we haven’t done it, but there’s still today. They’ve still got to beat us today.”
By the fifth inning, that 4-0 lead disappeared.
Tyler Glasnow retired his first 10 batters before trouble arrived in the fourth inning. A Brice Turang walk was followed by a pair of ground-rule doubles, William Contreras to left field and Jake Bauers to right field. After Bauers turned games around with a 12-pitch walk and 11-pitch home run in the previous two games, Glasnow used only six pitches on this two-run double.
Sal Frelick walked with one out in the fifth, then stole second off Glasnow, and scored on a single by David Hamilton, the fourth time in the NLCS that Milwaukee sequenced a single, steal, and single for a run. That ended Glasnow’s night after 13 outs, having allowed five of his final eight batters to reach.
Evan Phillips entered and got a second out on a scorched line drive to center by Jackson Chourio, then fell behind 3-0 to Brice Turang before issuing an intentional walk. William Contreras walked on six pitches, ending the outing for Phillips while loading the bases.
Alex Vesia came into face Bauers, seemingly in the middle of everything int this series. He walked on four pitches, the fourth Brewers walk of the inning to tie the game at 4-4. Vesia escaped further damage by inducing a groundout by Christian Yelich.
All bullpen hands were on deck for the Dodgers, who turned to Tanner Scott in the sixth inning. He got ahead 0-2 on lefty Garrett Mitchell, who worked the count full before homering to center field for Milwaukee’s first lead of the night. Mitchell entered these playoffs with two home runs off southpaws in 201 career plate appearances, and he homered in Game 3 off Blake Snell and Game 4 off Scott.
Left-hander JoJo Romero pitched two scoreless innings to stem the tied while the Brewers came back, then it was time to turn the game over the Milwaukee’s devastating back end of the bullpen.
Left-hander Aaron Ashby pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings combined in the first two games, then got a respite in Game 3.
“Ashby — I don’t understand that,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said before Game 4. “It’s 98 to 100 from up here and sinking and curving.”
Andy Pages greeted Ashby for a leadoff double in the seventh inning, the Dodgers’ third extra-base hit of the game after only two total in the first three games. Most importantly, the tying run was in scoring position, and Kiké Hernández bunted Pages over to third base. But Ashby struck out Ohtani on three pitches before inducing a groundout from Mookie Betts to keep Milwaukee’s lead.
Ashby stayed in for the eighth, pitching in multiple innings in relief for the fifth time this postseason and 31st time this season, tied with Justin Bruihl for most in the majors. He got Freeman to fly out before Will Smith doubled, and went to third on an error by Frelick in right field. But Kyle Tucker, who doubled and was stranded in the sixth, flew out to shallow center then Teoscar Hernández struck out to end the threat.
The Dodgers had doubles in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings with either one or zero out, trailing by a run and none of them scored. In Game 4 they had two hits in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position, their best showing in that regard all postseason, which consisted of only five hits with 43 at-bats (.116) with runners in scoring position in eight games.
Third baseman David Hamilton, who stole a base earlier in Game 4 and swiped three bags in the NLCS, cut out the middleman and drove in himself with a solo home run in the ninth, providing yet another insurance run for a Brewers team that cashed in all series.
Ashby stayed in the game, because why not? He didn’t allow anything in the ninth inning, clinching the pennant with a three-inning save. The Dodgers had no three-inning saves all season.
Milwaukee is just the second team ever to get swept one season, then beat that team in the next year’s postseason, joining the 1923 New York Yankees. The Brewers are the first to be swept then return the favor with a sweep of their own.
NLCS Game 4 particulars
Home runs: Shohei Ohtani (1), Garrett Mitchell (2), David Hamilton (1)
WP — JoJo Romero (2-1): 2 IP, 1 hit, 3 strikeouts
LP — Tanner Scott (0-1): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 2 strikeouts
Sv — Aaron Ashby (2): 3 IP, 2 hits, 3 strikeouts
Up next
The offseason starts now for the Dodgers. The collective bargaining agreement expires at 8:59 p.m. PT on December 1, then comes the long winter.
