MILWAUKEE BREWERS

Dodgers 5, Brewers 2: The Brewers' offensive struggles continue in Game 5

Todd Rosiak
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

LOS ANGELES - It's do-or-die time for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Two days after winning the opener at Dodger Stadium they find themselves one game away from elimination in the National League Championship Series following a dreadful offensive performance Wednesday in Game 5.

Clayton Kershaw dominated for seven innings, and despite some early-inning pitching gamesmanship and then the best efforts of Brandon Woodruff, the Brewers were overtaken by the Los Angeles Dodgers before falling, 5-2.

They head back home facing a must-win Game 6 on Friday night at Miller Park.

"It’s important to go back home," said Brewers "initial out-getter" Wade Miley. "I think the crowd’s going to be loud there. It’s going to be a fun – hopefully – two games and we’ll see where it gets us."

Milwaukee managed just five hits in total and none off Kershaw after the third inning, which is when they took their one and only lead of the game.

Kershaw and three relievers combined to retire 18 consecutive batters before Jesús Aguilar and Curtis Granderson doubled in consecutive at-bats in the ninth.

Games 3-5 were marked by the Brewers' inability to generate any sort of consistent offense. They totaled seven runs on 21 hits over 31 innings while getting little contribution from the likes of Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, Mike Moustakas and Aguilar.

"Look, we were unable to score enough runs," said manager Craig Counsell.

"Really, I think that was the bottom line of the three games here. We gave ourselves a chance through 12 innings yesterday and six innings today to try to put ourselves in a good spot, and they've done a good job of holding us down offensively."

Counsell pulled some familiar shenanigans when, just five pitches in, he removed Miley.

It was the same approach the Brewers used Sept. 24 in St. Louis, when Dan Jennings started and faced one batter before departing. This time it was about having Dodgers manager Dave Roberts set his lineup to face a left-handed pitcher, only to see right-hander Brandon Woodruff trot in from the bullpen one batter in.

"It’s not my job to question it," said Miley, who was informed of the plan Monday. "We’re trying to get to the World Series, and the strategic side of it, it looked to be a pretty good idea with the way they use their bench over there.

"I was in. Everybody bought in."

Miley's one-batter outing didn't quite go according to plan, as he walked Cody Bellinger on five pitches before making way for Woodruff.

Woodruff opened by hitting Justin Turner, but then struck out David Freese and got Manny Machado to ground into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Milwaukee jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third against Kershaw when Orlando Arcia singled with one out, Woodruff walked and Cain doubled over Bellinger's head in center.

But strikeouts by Yelich and Aguilar sandwiched around a Ryan Braun walk left the bases loaded and the Brewers having missed out on an opportunity to give Woodruff a little more breathing room.

And it came back to bite the young right-hander beginning in the fifth.

The trouble started with an infield single by Chris Taylor, who advanced to second base on a wild throw by Arcia. Taylor stole third without a throw, and two batters later Austin Barnes rolled a single up the middle that knotted the score at 1-1.

Kershaw, meanwhile, was rolling along. He'd retired 10 consecutive batters after a 1-2-3 sixth, and then was given the lead in the bottom half of the inning.

Turner opened by dropping a single in front of Cain in center and after Joc Pederson struck out, Woodruff (1-1) hit Machado in the elbow with a pitch.

With two on, Max Muncy went the other way on a 1-2 slider to foil the Brewers' shift.

His single to left scored Turner to give Los Angeles its first lead of the game at 2-1. That ended Woodruff's day at 70 pitches. He allowed five hits, three runs (two earned) and a walk while tying a career high with eight strikeouts.

"I just tried to go out and give the team a chance to win," Woodruff said. "I knew coming in that the bullpen had been used a lot, so I knew I needed to go eat up some innings. The strikeouts, it is what it is, but I was just trying to get deep into the game."

Said Counsell: "We got everything from Woody that we could have asked for. He was outstanding. He was really, really good."

Corbin Burnes took over and struck out Taylor looking to get to within an out of escaping the inning. Roberts then pinch-hit Yasiel Puig, and he delivered a single to center that made it 3-1.

Kershaw again mowed down the Brewers in the seventh, and the Dodgers put the game out of reach after that with Joakim Soria and Xavier Cedeño on the mound.

A one-out Soria walk to Kershaw started the trouble. Bellinger doubled and Turner singled to center to make it a 4-1 game. Brian Dozier greeted Cedeño with a groundout that scored another run, and that, for all intents and purposes, was the ballgame.

Kershaw (1-1) was done after that inning, having limited the Brewers to three hits, one run and two walks while striking out nine – a dominating performance that was a far cry from the one he turned in at Miller Park in Game 1.

"I don’t really think there was too much different," said Moustakas, who was 0 for 3 against Kershaw, 0 for 4 in the game, and is hitting .095 (2 for 21) in the NLCS.

"He commanded the zone really well, off-speed was good. The guy’s a competitor every single time he takes the mound. I don’t think results dictate what’s different. He commands every time he goes out there and sometimes we score runs and sometimes we don’t.

"That’s how the game goes."

And now the game goes back to Miller Park, where the Brewers will have Miley and Jhoulys Chacín ready to go and a bullpen whose big guns Josh Hader, Corey Knebel and Jeremy Jeffress will be fully rested.



"We're in a good spot, man," Counsell said. "We're going home. And I know you're going to play what-if if we could have captured another one of these games, but we're still going home and have a chance with this thing with a bunch of guys in really good shape."

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

TOUGH BREAK: Curtis Granderson earned himself a trip to the dentist on the off-day Thursday after chipping one of his front teeth while sliding into second on his ninth-inning double. He also suffered a cut under his lower lip that was closed with surgical glue.

"I'm not sure it it was the ground, the helmet, the base," he said. "It was really fast out there and I ended up going in a lot harder than I wanted to."

ODDS ARE: The Brewers have an 0-1 series record when falling behind, 2-3, in the NLCS. The Dodgers, meanwhile, have a 5-1 series record when taking a 3-2 lead. Their only loss came in the 1952 World Series against the New York Yankees. Teams trailing 2-3 with Games 6 and 7 scheduled at home have a 4-8 series record.

QUICK CHANGE: Miley became just the second pitcher in postseason history to leave a start after facing one batter. The other was Cincinnati's Johnny Cueto in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

FOR STARTERS: Milwaukee starting pitchers (or initial out-getters) have thrown just 14 innings in the NLCS, the lowest total ever through five games of an LCS. The 1976 Kansas City Royals rank second with 18 innings and the 1984 San Diego Padres and the 2008 Dodgers tied for third with 21 1/3 innings.

RECORD BREAKERS: The Brewers had pitchers set franchise records for longest postseason relief appearances in Games 4 and 5. Junior Guerra went 3 2/3 innings in Game 4 only to see his effort eclipsed by Woodruff's 5 2/3 innings roughly 16 hours later.

COMING UP

Thursday: Off.

Friday: Brewers vs. Dodgers in Game 6 of the NLCS, 7:39 p.m. at Miller Park. Milwaukee LHP Wade Miley (0-0, 0.00) vs. Los Angeles LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (1-0, 1.59). TV: FS1. Radio: AM-620.

NLCS SCHEDULE

Game 7: Saturday, 8:09 p.m. at Milwaukee