The Dodgers entered Game 6 one victory away from a return to the World Series, but it wasn’t to be: Hyun-jin Ryu was hittable early, the Brewers racked up the doubles, and their bullpen held the Dodgers scoreless from the moment Wade Miley left the game until Game 6 was over. We’ll have a decisive Game 7 on Saturday night, and the Brewers will have themselves a fully rested Josh Hader and Joakim Soria to follow their best starter, Jhoulys Chacin. A frustrating loss for the Dodgers, but they do still have Game 7 to atone and return to the Fall Classic, as if Game 6 never happened. We live blogged the whole game, so if you want to catch up or relive it blow-by-blow, you can do so below. Dodgers vs. Brewers Game 6 NLCS Live Results Hello, it’s Marc Normandin here to live blog us all through the postseason. Want to read this live blog from the beginning? Scroll down to the “1st inning” marker and work your way back up! 9th inning: The Dodgers have three outs left to avoid a Game 7, but they now need to score at least five runs to make that happen. They’ll have to face Burnes once again: he threw just 12 pitches last inning, and will likely have some wiggle room here to avoid using Hader or Soria, leaving them both fully rested for Game 7 on Saturday. It’ll be Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig, and whichever player on the Dodgers’ bench pinch-hits for Rich Hill this inning. Pederson strikes out on four pitches, and man, Burnes can bring it. Two outs left for the Dodgers in Game 6. Puig swings at the first pitch, but it rolls foul. Burnes strikes him out in the end: This Brewers pen is weaponized, goddamn. Los Angeles is down to their final out, and they’re sending pinch-hitter Matt Kemp up to the plate to try to keep things going. Alas, Kemp pops out in foul territory, and that’s that. See you here tomorrow night for Game 7, folks: the Brewers win 7-2. 8th inning: Justin Turner made an out while I was in my kitchen, but I knew he made an out because I heard booing start, which meant Machado was coming up to the plate. Machado also makes an out, and he’s 0-for-4 on the night. More like, uh, B00-for-4? Let me work on that. The Dodgers have four outs left to come back and avoid a Game 7, by the way. Three outs, now, as Bellinger flies out to center. Josh Hader was shown in the bullpen, but with a four-run lead, the Brewers might not even need to use their top relief ace. And that could have major Game 7 implications, given Hader can go long. And on a night when Jhoulys Chacin, Milwaukee’s best starter, will pitch. Here are the Brewers in the bottom of the frame, once again against Maeda. Cain leads off with a single — each run makes it much more likely Hader doesn’t pitch. Cain’s single ends Maeda’s night: here’s Rich Hill in relief, to face Christian Yelich. I know Yelich rules, and he definitely deserves to be NL MVP, but he’s also got a 494 OPS in the postseason so far. It’s impressive the Brewers have gotten this far without his help in October, but they sure could still use it. Yelich walks! That’s two on for Braun, and no outs. Braun strikes out, which brings up pinch-hitter Hernan Perez for Travis Shaw. Perez grounds into a force out, but the Dodgers fail to turn the double play, and the next batter, Aguilar, drives in a run to make it 7-2. Hader better not be coming out of that pen next frame, because there is legitimately no reason for it. Moustakas grounds out to end the inning, but man. The Brewers get to send Burnes to the mound again, and might get out of this game without using either of Hader or Joakim Soria. 7-2, Milwaukee. 7th inning: The Brewers change their pitcher, too, adding in Jeremy Jeffress. He hasn’t had a great postseason! That’s just a bad two weeks, basically, so it’s unclear if it means a thing. Things start off well here with a popup to Kratz. The Dodgers are pretty close to where I can start saying things like, “The Dodgers are running out of outs.” Yasmani Grandal is pinch-hitting for Caleb Ferguson, so we’ll have yet another Dodgers pitcher in the bottom half of the inning. Grandal hasn’t hit and he hasn’t fielded well, whcih is who he’s in pinch-hitting duty: congrats on being more reliable than a reliever with a bat, basically. That’s just the position you want to be in before hitting free agency, for sure. Grandal hits a routine fly ball to Braun, and you have to imagine that’s that for his evening. Here’s Max Muncy, who has been more like Min Muncy in the postseason: he’s got a 476 OPS in October. That’s an original joke, by the way, if you see anyone else using it please ask them to cease and desist. Muncy struck out swinging. 5-2, Brewers heading into the seventh inning stretch. [at a baseball game] GOD CARESS AMERICA / WHEN YOU MAKE LOVE [crowd begins booing] uh STAND BEHIND HER / WHEN YOURE INSIDE HER [trash flies] — Jonny SUNN O))) (@Hegelbon) April 5, 2014 It’s Kenta Maeda on the mound for the Dodgers now. He’s their seventh pitcher of the game. One for each inning, sort of! Grandal remained in the game as the catcher, after all. Aguilar is not proving an easy opponent for Maeda to begin his outing: on the 11th pitch of the at-bat, Aguilar drops a fly ball into the corner in right, and it’s a double. Well, maybe: the Dodgers are challenging so they can hope for that dumb dumb dumb thing where Aguilar might have come off the base for 1/100th of a second during his slide and they want the call reversed. I don’t mind video review conceptually but this shit is awful. The call on the field stands. The Dodgers intentionally walk Moustakas here to get to Kratz, who is now pinch-hitter Curtis Granderson. Putting an extra runner on when you’re only down by three and Moose isn’t exactly an elite bat is a weird call, but hey, it’s not my NLCS. Granderson strikes out, bringing up Arcia. Arcia just screamed on national television on the third pitch, and here’s why: Arcia grounds out, and the Brewers are using Domingo Santana to pinch-hit now with two runners in scoring position. ahahaha you have got to be shitting me, Grandal fails to block a slider in the dirt, and the Brewers score a run. It’s now 6-2. That one is more on Maeda than Grandal — it’s a wild pitch and not a passed ball for a reason — but still, yeesh. Santana ends up striking out, but he “drove” a run in before then. 6-2 Brewers after seven. 6th inning: I know the sixth inning is starting but I’m still thinking about how weird it is that Knebel hit with the bases loaded in a three-run game. I know the Brewers need to worry about Game 7, but they need to win Game 6 first. Bellinger grounds out to Aguilar at first to begin the inning, and then Joc Pederson pinch-hits for Chris Taylor. Ow ow ow ow ow, Pederson got hit on the hand by a 96 mph fastball. He’s staying in the game, but just to reiterate: ow. Puig flies out to center field, so here’s Austin Barnes again — he’s 0-for-2 with a strikeout and a groundout, but on the other hand, he’s not Yasmani Grandal, as you probably noticed due to the lack of passed balls and brain farts behind the plate. Knebel shows why his manager stuck with him, striking out Barnes to end the top of the sixth. The Brewers go back to the top of the order in the bottom of the frame: Cain, Yelich, and Braun. Ad break!<doc-sep>USA TODAY Sports The National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers comes down to a do-or-die Game 7 Saturday night. It will be a Game 3 rematch between Dodgers rookie Walker Buehler, arguably their best pitcher this postseason, and Brewers journeyman Jhoulys Chacin, who hasn't allowed a run in two October starts. The Brewers are set up well in the bullpen, with their relief ace Josh Hader rested and ready for multiple innings. The Dodgers bullpen also well rested. Kenley Jansen, Pedro Baez and Ryan Madson did not pitch in Game 6. And let's not forget Clayton Kershaw, who has a history of coming out of the bullpen in the postseason. MORE MLB Ted Berg Dodgers 6, Brewers 3: The Brewers' bullpen-heavy formula relies in part upon the notion that limiting opposing hitters' exposure to any one particular pitcher benefits the whole staff. The guess here is that the first six games of the series offered the Dodgers enough looks at the Brewers' relievers to finally do damage in Game 7 and power Los Angeles to victory. Scott Boeck Brewers 5, Dodgers 2: Thanks to a 7-2 win in Game 6, Brewers manager Craig Counsell did not have to use his best bullpen weapon — Josh Hader. That means Hader, on three days' rest, will be loaded for at least nine outs in front of a frenzied Miller Park crowd. Steve Gardner Brewers 2, Dodgers 1 (11 inn. ): Both teams have their very best arms available to help out at the first sign of trouble — and the managers won't hesitate to go to the bullpen to get the most favorable matchups. As Josh Hader, Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen, among others, string shutout innings together, the Brewers' bullpen depth finally wins out as Christian Yelich hits a walk-off homer. Instant classic. Gabe Lacques Brewers 5, Dodgers 1: Walker Buehler leaves just enough balls over the plate for a rejuvenated Brewers offense to square up, and Jhoulys Chacin and Josh Hader cover eight of the nine innings on the mound. Bob Nightengale Brewers 6, Dodgers 3: The Brewers have their ace, Jhoulys Chacin, on full rest, their most valuable weapon, Josh Hader, who has thrown only 28 pitches since Game 1, and a massive home-field advantage called Miller Park. Heather Tucker Brewers 6, Dodgers 4: Scoring early and often off Dodgers starter and rookie Walker Buehler will be paramount. Buehler won’t be able to handle the pressure of yet another win-or-go-home scenario for the Dodgers. Expect more activity in the Brewers’ bullpen than on banking’s busiest Friday. The Brewers’ arms and well-rested closer Josh Hader will be the difference. Jesse Yomtov Dodgers 5, Brewers 2: The Dodgers have had six games to get a good look at Milwaukee pitchers and this should be the game they finally come through with some big hits. Brewers manager Craig Counsell will play himself (DJ Khaled voice) at some point in this one, trying to get too cute with the bullpen.<doc-sep>MILWAUKEE — Jesus Aguilar violently slammed his arms against his legs. Mike Moustakas waved his hands toward the dugout. Erik Kratz signaled toward the crowd. Ryan Braun screamed as he held his arms in the air, as if thanking the heavens. With each run-scoring hit against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series on Friday, the Milwaukee Brewers sent the crowd at Miller Park into a fever pitch. With each run-scoring hit, they awakened a lethargic offense. With each run-scoring hit, they saved their charmed season. A 7-2 Brewers victory over the Dodgers guaranteed that this compelling series of managerial chess and unconventional pitching strategies, this showdown between the smallest market in baseball and the second-largest, would live another day. A ticket to face the Boston Red Sox in the World Series will be on the line Saturday. The last N.L.C.S. to go seven games was the 2012 meeting of the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants, who went on to win the World Series.<doc-sep>
The headline last year: The Dodgers are set up beautifully for the NLCS. The sub-hed: “The Dodgers didn’t have to use any surprises or fancy tricks to get through the Diamondbacks, and that will help an awful lot.” The point: The Dodgers got through the 2017 NLDS with all three lives and a continue left. It was going to help them. And it did. It helped them all the way to the World Series. Going into the 2017 NLCS, they had a rested Clayton Kershaw and a rested Rich Hill behind him. Alex Wood didn’t even have to throw a pitch. Kenley Jansen threw 3⅔ innings, was was two innings fewer than he threw in the 2016 NLDS against the Nationals. They were stacked and rested, stacked and rested. This is relevant to our interests because the Brewers are set up beautifully for Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS. It’s so obvious, so pertinent to everything that’s about to happen. The Brewers are trying to scam their way to the World Series with a bullpen and a dream, and the coppers are closing in, and look, you gotta give them a chance. This just might be crazy enough to work. And it’s looking good. The Brewers bullpen can come into the fourth inning of a Game 7, if needed. Maybe even the third inning. Corbin Burnes made sure of that. He pitched a fine two innings, and according to FanGraphs, that was good for a .137 win probability added. Even if you don’t know the ins and outs of WPA, just know that it was the best for any pitcher to appear in the game. No pitcher added more to his team’s chances to win than Burnes. Good for him. But that’s underselling it. It’s underselling it because Josh Hader was warming in the bullpen, and Craig Counsell was waiting, waiting, waiting to pull the trigger. He’ll never admit to the breaking point. Was it one baserunner? Was it two? Hader was ready, after all, and the manager had to figure out whether it was worth it to play that particular card at that particular moment. The Brewers were up by four, but another single and maybe another single, and then the tying run would be on deck, which, technically, is a save situation, so, oh, no, no, GET ME HADER. It would have been so, so easy to pull that lever. If Burnes gives up one line drive in the eighth, Counsell might have brought Hader in, spending bullets that he might have needed for a Game 7. So give Corbin Burnes a cool .100 head start on his Game 7 WPA, then. He’s earned it. Because he didn’t get weird, that means super-megaton reliever Josh Hader is fully, fully rested for Game 7. We knew the Brewers were going to have to manage all of this deftly, and now they’re here with a pennant on the line, perfectly set up. Go through the entire bullpen. How many innings is Corey Knebel good for (25 pitches in Game 6) in Game 7? Probably one. How many innings is Jeremy Jeffress good for (13 pitches)? Two, at least. How many innings is Joakim Soria good for (DNP - coach’s decision)? Probably two. I mean, he’ll probably go one, but if you need to stretch him, he’s there. What about extra innings, if needed? Zach Davies has thrown 18 pitches this series, after subbing for the injured Gio Gonzalez. He’s good for seven innings, give or take. Brandon Woodruff has thrown 97, so he’s probably off limits after a batter or three! But Corbin Burnes, so dominant in Game 6, only threw 24 pitches. He’s probably good for an inning, at least. Related Stop being surprised by Jhoulys Chacin We haven’t even gotten to Xavier Cedeño or Freddy Peralta, both of whom have arms of doom. Unpolished arms of doom, but still. Neither one of them gives you the meat sweats when they come into a game. They’re legitimate major league arms. And that’s the full rundown of the Brewers bullpen. Knebel can probably pitch an inning, and Jeffress can likely go two. Soria is fully rested, so he can go for as long as possible, and if Joakim Soria runs into trouble early, the Brewers knew they can rely on Davies to eat up as many innings as needed. That’s before you get to Burns, Cedeño, and Peralta.