Haudricourt: Chacin delivers for Brewers again, and bullpen bounces back despite late scare

LOS ANGELES – The venue changed for the National League Championship Series on Monday evening, but the modus operandi of the participating teams remained the same.

For the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers, it remained all about the pitching, as it almost always does this time of year. 

There would be no repeat of Game 2 at Miller Park, when the Brewers blew a three-run lead in the late innings to fall, 4-3. Jhoulys Chacin, the "initial out-getter," never let the Dodgers up for air and the bullpen pushed aside chatter about its vulnerability to close the deal, 4-0, at Dodger Stadium.

But not without one humongous scare in the bottom of the ninth.

For those wondering if manager Craig Counsell had lost confidence in struggling reliever Jeremy Jeffress, he delivered a resounding "no" with three outs to go. The Brewers' bullpen gate swung open and in jogged Jeffress, he of the 7.71 postseason earned run average.

Counsell was expecting Jeffress' luck to turn but it didn't take long to find more trouble. A single by Justin Turner, who beat Jeffress and the Brewers with a two-run homer in Game 2, and double by Manny Machado. Just like that, second and third, no outs.

No doubt, Brewers fans back home were screaming at their TV sets for Counsell to take Jeffress out of the game but the manager never budged from his perch in the visiting dugout. Jeffress popped up the struggling Cody Bellinger but walked Yasiel Puig on four pitches. Now, the potential tying run would come to the plate, and with only one out.

Surely, Counsell would remove Jeffress now, right? Don't call him Shirley. Jeffress stayed.

Jeffress rewarded Counsell's confidence, no matter how wavering, by striking out the next two hitters, Yasmani Grandal and Brian Dozier, to put the Dodgers to bed for the night. And the collective sigh of relief from Brewers Nation could have matched the Santa Ana winds that tore through the area earlier in the day.

"We're trying to win the series, not just win games," Counsell said. "We've put ourselves in good shape with how we finished this one. Jeremy Jeffress has been an all-star for us and pitched huge, huge moments for us during the season.

"We've got a four-run lead. I trust him to get those outs. The ninth inning was entertaining, but they didn't score."

The Brewers certainly weren’t going to admit it beforehand, but they took the field with more at stake than Los Angeles, particularly after the disappointing loss in Game 2. Chacín has been their rock all season, the only pitcher to stick in the rotation from start to finish.

If they won Game 3, the Dodgers would have beaten the best pitcher the Brewers have to offer. Beyond that, Counsell had not named a Game 4 starter beforehand, which likely meant another “bullpen game.” Later, he selected Gio Gonzalez, who went the first two innings in Game 1 and probably will be on a short leash again.

On top of that, Counsell had announced that veteran lefty Wade Miley would pitch on short rest in Game 5 after his excellent – and wasted – performance in Game 2.

So, summing it up, if the Dodgers beat Chacín, they’d get a bullpen game against them in Game 4 and face a pitcher on short rest in Game 5, which wouldn’t seem to favor the Brewers. That’s all that was riding on the tie-breaking Game 3.

And it all became moot when Chacin delivered 5 1/3 innings of gutty pitching, working around three hits and two walks. The bullpen took it from there, with Jeffress surviving the perilous ninth to close out the Dodgers.

"Jhoulys was just outstanding tonight," Counsell said. "The last four times we've given him the ball, it's been a big-time performance each and every time."

At the very worst, the victory assured one more playoff game at Miller Park. Even if the Dodgers win the remaining two games here, they would have to return to Milwaukee to try to eliminate the Brewers, who have no intention of letting that happen.

The Brewers knew they had little margin for error facing right-hander Walker Buehler, the Dodgers’ sensational rookie fire-baller. They got a good look at Buehler here on July 31, when he pitched seven excellent innings, allowing only five hits and one run with seven strikeouts.

How hard does Buehler throw, you ask? On his first six strikeouts, the average velocity of his final pitch was 98.5 mph. That’s high-octane gas, which is not cheap in California.

But Chacin, who relies on finesse more than velocity, with a nasty slider as his out pitch, was better than Buehler on this night. Then came rejuvenated Corey Knebel, who struck out four hitters in 1 2/3 innings, Joakim Soria, Josh Hader (two batters, two strikeouts) and the high-wire act by Jeffress. 

So, the team that supposedly doesn't have enough pitching now has three shutouts this postseason after recording only one in its previous franchise history. Folks are just going to have to get over the notion that the Brewers don't have enough arms because it has become a silly argument.

If you don't like the way they chop up games, using as many pitchers as it takes to record 27 outs, so be it. But it's a formula that works for them, and they're not about to apologize for it. 

"The guys that we're giving the ball to at the start of the game, they're doing a heck of a job," Counsell said. "They're setting the tone for the games. They're putting us in a good position.

"They're putting us in a very advantageous position to use our guys in the bullpen. And that's going to lead to wins."

So, far, 101 of them. And the Brewers aren't finished.