Game 4 of the NLCS starts at 8 p.m. ET Thursday, an hour earlier than originally scheduled. Milwaukee leads the series 3-0 and can win its first pennant since 1982.
How to watch
FS1 has the national broadcast with FOX Deportes carrying it in Spanish. It streams on FOX One and the FOX Sports apps. MLB.TV subscribers can watch with pay-TV authentication. ESPN Radio has national radio, TUDN Radio has Spanish-language radio.
First pitch is 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CT, 5 p.m. PT at Dodger Stadium.
What happened Wednesday
Jackson Chourio homered on Blake Snell’s first pitch of the game. The Dodgers took a 2-1 lead in the sixth on a Will Smith double, then Bauers ended an 11-pitch at-bat with a two-run homer in the seventh and Garrett Mitchell went deep two pitches later. Milwaukee won 6-2.
Robert Gasser gave the Brewers five scoreless innings. DL Hall recorded seven outs and Trevor Megill got the last four for his fourth save of the postseason. Snell allowed four runs on four hits over six-plus with nine strikeouts.
The pitching matchup
Shane Drohan makes his first appearance of the postseason for Milwaukee. The rookie left-hander is expected to open a bullpen game — Kyle Harrison, Chad Patrick and former Dodger Dustin May are all available behind him. Milwaukee’s staff has a 1.74 ERA through seven postseason games, the lowest of any team in this year’s field.
Tyler Glasnow starts for Los Angeles. He allowed one run over 4.2 innings against Atlanta in the NLDS clincher but walked five. He has a 1.73 ERA across seven career postseason appearances, and the Dodgers are 7-0 in games he’s pitched in October.
Lineups
Brewers: Jackson Chourio LF, Brice Turang 2B, William Contreras C, Jake Bauers 1B, Christian Yelich DH, Garrett Mitchell CF, Cooper Pratt SS, Sal Frelick RF, David Hamilton 3B. Drohan LHP.
Dodgers: Shohei Ohtani DH, Mookie Betts SS, Freddie Freeman 1B, Will Smith C, Kyle Tucker RF, Teoscar Hernández LF, Miguel Rojas 2B, Andy Pages CF, Enrique Hernández 3B. Glasnow RHP.
Ohtani is back at leadoff after hitting sixth in Game 3, his lowest spot in a lineup since 2021. He went 1-for-2 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch Wednesday and hasn’t homered since Aug. 18. Dodgers hitters are 3-for-32 with runners in scoring position in this series with no home runs.
Venezuela’s March is Milwaukee’s October
Chourio and William Contreras both played for Venezuela at the World Baseball Classic in March. They’ve been the two best hitters in this series, and they’re now tied for the most postseason home runs in Brewers history at five apiece. Chourio homered on Snell’s first pitch Wednesday. Contreras has three this October, including a 436-foot solo shot in Game 2.
Fourteen players from Milwaukee’s organization played in the Classic, across Canada, the Dominican Republic, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, the United States and Venezuela. Brice Turang, batting second tonight, played for the USA. Abner Uribe, who’s appeared in all seven Brewers postseason games, pitched for the Dominican Republic.
On the other side, Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto played for Japan, Will Smith for the United States, and Edwin Díaz — who hasn’t appeared in this series — for Puerto Rico.
What’s at stake
Only one team has come back from 3-0 in a best-of-seven: the 2004 Red Sox against the Yankees. Dave Roberts, the Dodgers manager, stole the base that started it.
Milwaukee has won seven straight postseason games and six in a row against Los Angeles going back to the regular season. The Dodgers swept the Brewers in last year’s NLCS.
