Brewers' Back-To-Back HRs Dent Dodgers' Hopes: 3 Takeaways From NLCS Game 3

DODGER STADIUM (Los Angeles) — Milwaukee is on the verge of abolishing baseball’s Evil Empire.

The Brewers are one win away from a trip to the World Series for the first time since 1982 after taking a 3-0 series lead over the Dodgers in the NLCS.

The Dodgers, backed into the smallest of corners, now face an uphill battle against a well-rounded and red-hot Brewers team that has found its rhythm and is showing no signs of slowing down.

The Brew Crew’s season-long combination of timely hitting, strong pitching, power from unexpected places, and a merciless energy has applied pressure on the defending-champion powerhouse, leaving the Dodgers with more questions than answers.

Milwaukee, meanwhile, looks determined to finish the job this year after coming up short against Los Angeles in last year’s NLCS.

Here are our takeaways from the Brewers’ 6-2 win over the Dodgers in Game 3: Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers did it again.

Two days after an epic 12-pitch battle against Yoshinobu Yamamoto that resulted in a walk, Bauers applied the same irritating and relentless pressure to Dodgers southpaw Blake Snell in the seventh inning of Game 3, with Milwaukee trailing Los Angeles, 2-1.

No matter what Snell threw at the plate, Bauers wasn’t biting.

He fouled off five different pitches — really, Snell’s entire arsenal — in an 11-pitch battle that finally got the best of the left-hander.

Snell’s 11th pitch of the at-bat was another meatball, nearly identical to the 97 mph fastball he threw over the heart of the zone to Jackson Chourio on his first pitch of the night.

Bauers was all over it.

He launched it to right field for a go-ahead, two-run home run that gave the Brewers a 3-2 lead.

The entire Brewers dugout spilled onto the field in celebration of Bauers’ first home run of the postseason, knowing it was the advantage they were hunting for against Snell all night.

But they weren’t done yet.