Dodgers use elite pitching to take control of NLCS and Blue Jays bounce back in a big way

It’s hard to lose in the MLB Postseason when you get back-to-back starting pitching performances like the ones that the Dodgers got from Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 1 and Game 2 of the NLCS in Milwaukee. On Monday night, Snell allowed just one hit in eight shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and the Dodgers almost blew the game because Dave Roberts decided to let his bullpen handle the ninth inning. After Los Angeles hung on to win 2-1, Yamamoto took the mound on Tuesday night and allowed a leadoff home run to Jackson Chourio. However, the Brewers would reach base just four more times after that as Yamamoto used 111 pitches to throw a complete game in a 5-1 Dodgers victory.

Los Angeles quickly countered Chourio’s solo shot with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning on a Teoscar Hernandez home run and an RBI double by Andy Pages. The Dodgers tacked on a run each in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, including a solo shot by Max Muncy that made him the franchise’s Postseason home run leader with 14. That’s one more than both Corey Seager and Justin Turner and three more than Duke Snider.

Yamamoto got stronger as the game wore on and retired the last 14 batters he faced. He and Snell became the first pair of teammates to last at least eight innings in back-to-back starts of a single Postseason series since Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum did it in the 2010 World Series. If you only include Dodgers history, you have to go back to Orel Hershiser and Tim Belcher in the 1988 NLCS against my Mets.

The Dodgers get to head home with a chance to put away the underdog Brewers and move even closer to their dreams of a repeat World Series championship. The Mariners also have a chance to finish their series at home, but that chance took a big blow on Wednesday night when the Blue Jays posted a 13-4 win in Game 3.

It looked like we were getting more of the same from Seattle and Toronto when Julio Rodriguez took Shane Bieber deep for a two-run home run in the first inning, but Bieber would settle down while the Blue Jays rallied for 12 runs between the third and sixth innings. Andres Gimenez got Canada up and running with a two-run shot off of George Kirby and Dalton Varsho followed with a two-RBI double later in the inning. The Blue Jays kept pouring on the offense with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. going 4-for-4 with a walk, three runs scored, and a home run. George Springer, Alejandro Kirk, and Addison Barger also went deep for the visitors.

Toronto will have a shot at tying up the series on Thursday night, but they’ll have to do so with Max Scherzer on the mound. He is making his first start of this Postseason after posting a 10.20 ERA in four September starts. The Blue Jays are hoping that he can channel the Scherzer of six years ago, because Seattle is sending Luis Castillo to the hill, and he allowed just one hit in six innings against Detroit in the ALDS.

Back in the National League, Tyler Glasnow will try to keep the elite starting pitching going for Los Angeles. He is coming off six shutout innings in the series-clinching victory against Philadelphia last week. The Brewers haven’t announced a starter for a must-win Game 3, but Jose Quintana is expected to play a big role after throwing three scoreless innings against the Cubs in NLDS Game 3.

Neither Quintana nor [Milwaukee manager Pat] Murphy have revealed whether the left-hander will start or — more likely — work behind an opener (or behind multiple relievers, as he did in NLDS Game 3). The Dodgers will have left-handed hitters Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman lurking in the top half of their lineup, as they usually do, but manager Dave Roberts will intersperse them with potent right-handed hitters Mookie Betts, Will Smith and Teoscar Hernández.

With the Blue Jays winning tonight, we are guaranteed two straight days of Championship Series doubleheaders. It will be fun to see if Toronto and Milwaukee can battle back on the road with their disadvantages in the pitching department.

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