Los Angeles—Cody Bellinger singled in the winning run with two outs in the 13th inning Tuesday as the Los Angeles Dodgers leveled baseball’s National League Championship Series with a 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
In a game that had been tied at 1-1 since the fifth inning, Bellinger lined a 3-2 slider from Milwaukee relief pitcher Junior Guerra into right field, allowing shortstop Manny Machado to score from second base.
“Honestly, I was surprised that they were throwing me,” Bellinger said. “I thought they would pitch around me and get me to swing. Once I saw they were attacking me, it was just kind of grind mode and do what you can to put the ball in play and try to end this game.”
Machado, who had singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch, barely beat Brewers’ right fielder Christian Yelich’s throw to home.
“As soon as that ball was hit I just put my head down—trying to pick up the ball at the end and try to sneak in there,” said Machado, who didn’t see his teammates already heading onto the field to celebrate after he rounded third.
The Dodgers, seeking to return to the World Series after falling in seven games to the Houston Astros last year, knotted the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.
They host game five on Wednesday, with ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw taking the mound.
The winner of the series will take on either the reigning World Series champion Astros or the Boston Red Sox in Major League Baseball’s championship showcase.
The Red Sox took a 2-1 lead in the American League Championship Series on Tuesday with an 8-2 triumph in Houston sealed by Jackie Bradley Jr.’s eighth-inning grand slam.
The Dodgers, facing the prospect of falling into a 1-3 hole with a defeat, got off to a promising start with a run in the first inning, when Brian Dozier’s single scored Chris Taylor.
The Brewers, whose only prior World Series appearance was a loss to St. Louis in 1982, knotted the score in the fifth inning when pinch-hitter Domingo Santana lined a double to right field and Orlando Arcia raced around from first to make it 1-1.
Both teams had plenty of opportunities to end it, but the Brewers went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and the Dodgers were 2-for-10.
Both teams ran out of position players and the Dodgers, after five solid innings from starting pitcher Rich Hill, used every relief pitcher they had to eke out the victory.
The tension was evident when the benches cleared in the 10th, with Machado sparking the incident when he grounded out to short with one out.
As he crossed the bag behind Milwaukee first baseman Jesus Aguilar, Machado dragged one foot over the foot Aguilar had stretched out behind him touching the base.
Aguilar took exception and the two traded words. More players briefly piled out of the dugouts but there were no ejections.
It was another controversial moment for Machado, who used his hand to hinder Arcia when sliding into second base in game three.
Milwaukee’s Travis Shaw and Yelich branded it a dirty play but Machado was unrepentant.
“I play baseball,” he said. “I go out there and try to win for my team.”
Bradley fuels Red Sox
Bradley was the star in Houston as the Red Sox put the game out of reach with five runs in the top of the eighth—four of them on Bradley’s grand slam to right field off a pitch from reliever Roberto Osuna.
“It’s huge,” Bradley said. “We’re playing a really good team in Houston. Runs are at a premium. We never feel like enough runs is going to be enough. So it was very, very special for us.”
Two innings earlier, Boston’s Steve Pearce belted a solo homer down the left field line against right-handed reliever Joe Smith to give Boston a 3-2 lead in what was a close game until Osuna’s meltdown in the eighth.
Osuna hit two batters—one with the bases loaded to force in a run —and allowed three hits in the frame and departed to boos from the home crowd.
The Red Sox had seized the initiative in the first inning, scoring two runs on a double from J.D. Martinez and a ground out by Xander Bogaerts against Houston starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel.
The Astros pulled a run back in the bottom of the first on Marwin Gonzalez’s run-scoring single against Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi, who gave up another run in the fifth.”‹