Brewers 6, Dodgers 2: Bauers and Mitchell put Milwaukee one win from the pennant

Jake Bauers hit the ball that changed Game 3. Garrett Mitchell followed with the swing that widened it. Their back-to-back seventh-inning home runs turned a one-run deficit into a two-run Milwaukee lead, and the Brewers beat the Dodgers 6-2 Wednesday in Los Angeles to move within one victory of the National League pennant.

Milwaukee leads the best-of-seven NLCS 3-0. This was not a win built entirely from patient singles or pressure on the bases. Jackson Chourio led off the game with a homer, Bauers drove in two with his, and Mitchell added another. Three home runs supplied four of the Brewers' six runs. A versatile offense does not have to turn down power when it gets it.

The Dodgers took the lead. Milwaukee took it back.

For five innings, Chourio's opening swing was enough. Robert Gasser allowed three hits and one walk over five scoreless innings, striking out three. Los Angeles broke through against Abner Uribe in the sixth. Three walks loaded the bases around a strikeout before Will Smith doubled home Teoscar Hernandez and Kyle Tucker for a 2-1 Dodgers lead. Shohei Ohtani reached third on the play.

That was the opening Los Angeles needed, and the strongest reason not to describe this as a comfortable Milwaukee procession. DL Hall entered with runners at second and third and one out. He struck out Enrique Hernandez and Tommy Edman to keep the deficit at one. In the next half-inning, Bauers' two-run homer off Blake Snell made it 3-2. Mitchell immediately homered off Snell for 4-2.

Eleven outs after the damage stopped

Hall and Trevor Megill combined for the final 11 outs without allowing a run or a walk. Hall worked 2 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and striking out two, and earned the win. Megill recorded the last four outs without a hit and struck out two for the save. Mookie Betts struck out on a foul tip to end it. Hall's sixth-inning escape did not win the game by itself, but it left Milwaukee close enough for two swings to change the lead.

The Brewers added a run in the eighth when Brice Turang scored on Justin Wrobleski's wild pitch. Joey Ortiz's ninth-inning single drove in Cooper Pratt for 6-2. Pratt finished 3-for-4. Snell struck out nine, but all three Milwaukee homers came against him; he was charged with four runs in six innings and took the loss. The Dodgers finished with five hits and eight runners left on base.

One win away is not a pennant won

The series is not over. Game 4 is scheduled for Thursday, October 15, at 8 p.m. Eastern in Los Angeles, according to MLB's current schedule. Milwaukee needs one more win, while the Dodgers must win four straight. The Brewers earned that position by answering a lead change immediately, then giving Los Angeles no further scoring. A place in the World Series still requires the last step.