Brewers push Dodgers to the brink with NLCS Game 3 win

No manufacturing. No get him on, get him over, get him in. Just one powerful swing that set the tone.

After the Dodgers scratched out a couple of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 2-1 lead, the Brewers immediately responded by dialing up the long ball again in the next half inning.

Twice.

Jake Bauers regained the lead for the Brewers when he hit a towering two-run home run deep into the right field bleachers. 

That swing capped off a marathon 11-pitch at-bat.

That was immediately followed by Garrett Mitchell hitting a nearly identical home run to complete the back-to-back.

From there, the Brewers closed out the game by doing their normal Brewers ball approach. The bullpen completely locked things down and continued to baffle Dodgers hitters, while they manufactured a couple of more runs in the eighth and ninth innings to put the game away.

But the tone for this game, and for this win, was set by the long ball, and it started on the literal first pitch. 

They have now hit eight home runs in their seven playoff games, while allowing just two. 

They can beat you with an old-school small-ball approach. They can beat you by shutting you down with a dominant pitching staff, including one of the best bullpens in baseball. As they have shown in this series, and especially on Wednesday night, they can also beat you by simply hitting the ball over the wall. 

That is what great teams do. They win by whatever means necessary.