Brewers sweep the Dodgers in the NLCS to reach the World Series for the first time since 1982

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Garrett Mitchell hit a go-ahead homer in the sixth inning, Milwaukee’s brilliant bullpen slammed the door late and the Brewers rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 on Thursday in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series to earn their first trip to the World Series since 1982.

No. 9 hitter David Hamilton’s two-out solo shot off Edwin Díaz gave the Brewers a two-run cushion in the ninth. Hamilton had just four homers in the regular season.

“We got down early tonight and we were like, it’s going to be a great story,” Brewers captain Christian Yelich said. “We’re going to come back and win this. Like, stay together, start chipping away. And that’s exactly what they did.”

Shohei Ohtani’s first home run this postseason helped put the Dodgers ahead 4-0 in the second inning before the Brewers came back to complete a four-game sweep of the two-time defending World Series champions a year after getting swept by Los Angeles in the NLCS.

“They may have a bunch of Hall of Famers, but we’ve got a bunch of gamers — and the gamers won this week,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said.

Milwaukee became the first major league club to complete a postseason sweep after getting swept by that same opponent in the previous postseason.

The Brewers also became the first team to sweep a best-of-seven postseason series in which it trailed in every game.

“There was never a doubt in that dugout what was going to happen tonight. We knew we were going to win that game,” said Jake Bauers, the NLCS MVP.

The Brewers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in their only other World Series appearance, when Milwaukee played in the American League.

With the score tied 4-all, Mitchell fell behind 0-2 before reliever Tanner Scott threw three straight balls for a full count. Mitchell’s 409-foot leadoff drive to center field — the first homer of his career on an 0-2 count — put the Brewers ahead for the first time. Mitchell also homered in their 6-2 victory Wednesday.

“It’s absolutely surreal,” Mitchell said. “You talk about the battle-tested Brewers. We went down early and the belief in that dugout got stronger and stronger.”

The Brewers’ bullpen coolly turned away multiple threats when the Dodgers had the potential tying run on base.

Winning pitcher JoJo Romero struck out Max Muncy with Kyle Tucker at third to end the sixth.

Aaron Ashby, who worked three scoreless innings for a save, struck out Ohtani swinging before Mookie Betts grounded out with Andy Pages at third to end the seventh. Will Smith doubled to right with one out in the eighth and was safe at third when the ball got away from Sal Frelick for an error before Ashby got Tucker to fly out and Teoscar Hernández to strike out.

“Playing with that chip on our shoulder,” Ashby said. “You don’t ever know what to expect going into a series like that last year (against the Dodgers). You don’t know how bad it can be, and then it was as bad as it was. And we came out and we survived, and we came back this year, and those guys played their tails off.”

The Brewers tied it in the fifth, when the Dodgers bullpen issued four walks and Milwaukee stole two bases. Hamilton’s single chased starter Tyler Glasnow and scored Frelick, who walked and stole second, to pull Milwaukee to 4-3.

Alex Vesia came in and promptly walked Brice Turang and William Contreras to load the bases. Vesia then walked Bauers with two outs to force in Hamilton with the tying run.

Glasnow retired his first 10 batters — six on strikeouts — before the Brewers got to him in the fourth. Turang walked, Contreras hit a ground-rule double and Bauers followed with another ground-rule double that closed Milwaukee to 4-2.

Ohtani broke out of his postseason slump with a three-run homer after Pages’ RBI single in the second. The four-time MVP released weeks of pent-up frustration by raising his arms and yelling and the crowd of 49,104 joined him in celebration.

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Beth Harris, The Associated Press