LOS ANGELES -- As the evening grew later and the celebration made its way from the clubhouse to the field, the Brewers’ bullpen gathered for a group photo on the Dodger Stadium mound on Thursday.
It’s only fair that Milwaukee’s relievers staked their territory, considering how they’ve owned the bump this postseason.
Three relievers combined to hold the Dodgers scoreless over the final seven innings of the Brewers’ 6-4 comeback win, which secured the franchise’s first trip to the World Series in 44 years.
“Those guys were unbelievable,” National League Championship Series MVP Jake Bauers said. “Those guys have been unbelievable all season long. I expect nothing less from those guys. They want the ball, they execute pitches, and they get the job done.”
After opener Shane Drohan allowed a leadoff single in the second inning, right-hander Dustin May surrendered four runs on Andy Pages’ RBI single and Shohei Ohtani’s three-run blast to right-center.
But that would be it for the Dodgers’ star-studded lineup.
May, who tossed a scoreless inning of middle relief in Game 2, bounced back to shut down his former club in the third and fourth before handing the ball off to southpaw JoJo Romero.
“I came out in the first inning spraying a little bit, threw the wrong pitch to Shohei and got burned on it, but I had to settle back in and get in the moment and go and finish my job,” said May, who is the only member of Milwaukee’s NLCS roster to have appeared in a World Series.
“I've been in worse moments, and it's a moment that I knew could happen, and it happened, and you've got to move past it.”
After the Brewers clawed back with two runs apiece in the fourth and fifth, Romero retired a trio of former MVPs -- Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman -- in order for a shutdown inning. Following Garrett Mitchell’s go-ahead homer in the sixth, Romero worked around a one-out double in the bottom half of the frame.
From there, Brewers manager Pat Murphy turned to postseason breakout star Aaron Ashby for the final nine outs.
Although Los Angeles threatened with a runner on third with less than two outs in both the seventh and eighth, Ashby didn’t break.
In the seventh, Pages led off with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Ashby struck out Ohtani and induced a groundout from Betts to end the inning. With one out in the eighth, Will Smith sent a ball to right field for a double, but ended up getting to third when it gave Sal Frelick trouble in the corner.
No worries. Kyle Tucker flied out to shallow center and Teoscar Hernández struck out to end the threat, as Ashby bailed out his teammate.
“Unbelievable,” Frelick said. “I knew Ash had it. I couldn't have been more confident that my guy would pick me up there. That's just what it's been the whole year. If you mess up, make an aggressive mistake, something like that, next guy's got you, and that's just how this team rolls.”
Ashby capped his 39-pitch outing with a drama-free ninth to eliminate the two-time reigning World Series champion Dodgers.
“Honestly, I don't have words for it,” Ashby said. “It didn’t quite register how I thought it would register in the moment. I just looked at [catcher William Contreras] and it was like, ‘Holy cow!’ Like, ‘It's happening!’ And it was nuts.”
The 28-year-old Ashby joined Lance McCullers Jr. (2017 American League Championship Series), Madison Bumgarner (2014 World Series), Steve Howe (1981 World Series) and Vida Blue (1972 ALCS) as the only pitchers to record a three-plus-inning save in a series clinchers since saves became official in 1969.
Through the first six outings of this postseason, the lights-out Ashby hasn’t given up a run in 12 1/3 innings. Murphy stuck with the hot hand.
“I just kept telling Murph that I was good to go,” said Ashby, who led the club with 75 regular-season appearances. “When you're surrounded by guys like this, all you want to do is go out there and compete with them, and so that's kind of what we try to do all year. I'm going to go out there until Murph tells me I can't go out there anymore.”
Quipped closer Trevor Megill: “I guess that's what happens when a starter converts to a reliever, right? They go a long way.”
Milwaukee is on the cusp of its first World Series title thanks to its pitching staff, in particular the relief corps.
The Brewers became the first team to have a reliever earn the win in at least seven of their first eight games of a postseason. Only the 2015 Royals had more reliever wins for an entire postseason (eight). Six relievers combined to allow five runs while covering 21 2/3 of 36 innings for a 2.08 ERA in the NLCS.
“Everybody wants the moment,” May said. “Everybody's really good. Everybody throws hard, and we all throw strikes.”
“I just think that we all have been together for so long now, a couple years, we'd honestly do anything for each other,” Megill said. “Winning's one of them.”