LOS ANGELES — For the first time in the National League Championship Series, a Dodgers starter had to deal with … a jam.
No matter. The result was the same.
After starters Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto breezed through the Milwaukee Brewers without so much as facing a hitter with a runner in scoring position in Games 1 and 2, Tyler Glasnow was put to the test early with a couple of challenging innings in Game 3 on Thursday afternoon.
Glasnow needed 38 pitches to get through the first two innings, but only one run scored. He didn’t allow anything else over 5⅔ innings, leaving in a tie game that the Dodgers ultimately won, 3-1, to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven NLCS.
“Really proud of Tyler in the sense of what the pitch count was early, and knowing we still needed length from him,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “For him to kind of stay, keep his wits about him and to keep making pitches, keep competing and shorten the game, that’s what we need from him.”
Although the Dodgers’ bullpen performed well to get 10 outs after Glasnow was done. It could have been a very different story if Roberts had to start bringing relievers out early in the game.
And that looked like a distinct possibility the way the first two innings went.
In the first inning, Glasnow gave up a two-out walk and a single. He escaped by getting Andrew Vaughn on a ground out to third.
An inning later, Glasnow allowed a one-out triple to Caleb Durbin, who scored on a Jake Bauers single. Bauers went to third on a stolen base and an error, putting Glasnow in a tighter spot than his predecessors had seen in the first two games.
That’s when third baseman Max Muncy helped bail him out. The infield was in when Muncy sprawled to his left to snag a grounder, followed by a perfect spinning throw home to get the second out of the inning.
“That was huge,” Glasnow said. “I think that was the play of the game, for sure. Just having a one-run ballgame. If it had turned into two, it’s a different story.”
After Muncy’s defensive gem, Glasnow got leadoff hitter Jackson Chourio on a fly ball to right, preserving the 1-1 tie.
Glasnow did not allow another hit. He struck out six of the next seven hitters, on his way to an eight-strikeout performance.
“I think my rhythm was a little off,” Glasnow said of his start. “Usually when I’m off, I tend to have a different rhythm with my hands and my leg. I think just getting more into the rhythm of the game – I don’t know, it’s hard to explain – but I think I just got back into a rhythm.”
Glasnow said he didn’t have the feel for his slider throughout the game, but his sinker got him through.
“I leaned into the sinker a lot,” Glasnow said. “I was ripping off everything. And it’s one pitch when I’m a little bit late that I can get back into the zone if I’m a tad bit late. I was able to get ahead with it. And I just think the overall athleticism and rhythm was a lot better.”
Brewers manager Pat Murphy had another theory for how well Glasnow pitched through the middle of the game: the shadows.
The late afternoon start created shadows that crossed between the plate and the mound at that point in the game. While Glasnow was whipping through the Brewers, hard-throwing Milwaukee right-hander Jacob Misiorowski was striking out nine in his five innings.
“Take nothing away from Glasnow, who pitched great,” Murphy said. “Take nothing away from Miz, who pitched great, but it was a really tough visual for both teams. Nobody can think of a hard-hit ball hit during that time. That’s very unusual in a game.”
Whatever the reasons, Glasnow finished a second straight strong start this postseason. Including six scoreless innings against the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Division Series, Glasnow has allowed one run in 11⅔ innings in two starts in October. He also started the postseason with a scoreless relief outing.
The former Hart High standout had a 5.72 career postseason ERA before this month.
“Earlier in my career, I didn’t have a ton of success,” Glasnow said. “I think just being able to go out, be myself, stay athletic and pitch well, it’s been fairly great. And having that bullpen outing, to start, felt nice and it carried over well into my starts. Hopefully I can keep it going.”
