The Dodgers are suddenly staring at the edge.
Blake Snell gave them a dominant stretch, Shohei Ohtani reached base three times, and the offense briefly looked ready to flip Game 3. None of it mattered in the end, because the Milwaukee Brewers kept landing the bigger blows and walked out with a 6-2 win that left Los Angeles one loss from elimination in the National League Championship Series.
Game 4 is next on Thursday at Dodger Stadium, and the first pitch time has been moved up to 5 p.m. PT.
MLB changed the start because of expected inclement weather in Tampa, where the Rays and Cleveland Guardians will now begin Game 3 of the American League Championship Series at Progressive Field at the adjusted time. The Dodgers’ original start time was 6 p.m.
Snell looked like the pitcher the Dodgers needed for much of the night. He overpowered Milwaukee with a heavy mix of fastballs and curveballs, struck out nine, and retired 14 straight hitters through the sixth. But the Brewers kept waiting him out, and once the game turned, it turned fast.
Jackson Chourio set the tone immediately by leading off the game with a first-pitch home run into the pavilion. Exactly one year to the day after he opened Game 2 of the 2025 NLCS with a leadoff shot, he did it again - and again on the first pitch.
That homer also pushed him into the Brewers’ postseason record book with his sixth long ball of this October. It made him one of three players tied for second all-time in MLB playoff history with three leadoff homers, alongside Shohei Ohtani, Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins.
Kyle Schwarber holds the postseason lead with five.
For most of the night, Snell kept the Brewers from building on that early jolt. But the seventh inning changed everything.
He opened the frame with a walk, and then Milwaukee ripped back-to-back home runs to seize control for good. Both came off lefties, Jake Bauers and Garrett.
Bauers’ go-ahead blast came on the 11th pitch of his at-bat.
The damage was especially notable because Snell hadn’t allowed a home run in 10 starts this season - nine in the regular season and one in the NL Division Series. Before Wednesday, he had also been the picture of command against Milwaukee in this NLCS, holding them to one hit over eight innings in his earlier postseason start.
The Dodgers did at least create some traffic. They had the leadoff man aboard in four of the first six innings, though they didn’t cash in right away.
Their breakthrough came in the sixth, when Abner Uribe came in and immediately lost the strike zone. He walked the first two batters he faced, then put Ohtani on base to load the bags with one out.
That set up Will Smith, who ripped a two-run double off the center-field wall to give Los Angeles a 2-1 lead.
It didn’t last. A chain of decisions from Pat Murphy and Dave Roberts swung the momentum back toward Milwaukee, and the Dodgers stranded two runners in scoring position as the Brewers reclaimed the upper hand.
Ohtani, meanwhile, was hitting from a different spot than usual. He was dropped to sixth in the order, his lowest lineup position since 2020, and responded with a 1-for-2 night that included a single, a walk and a hit by pitch. His single came off the bat at 113.5 mph.
The loss leaves the Dodgers on the brink. One more defeat, and their bid to become the first National League team in MLB history to win three straight World Series will be over.
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