MLB Preview: Game 5 of the National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Game 4 of American League Championship Series between the Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros. 

MLB GAME 5 PREVIEW BREWERS AT DODGERS

Game 5 of the National League Championship Series

The series is tied at 2-2, with the winner one victory away from the World Series.

The Brewers (2-2) will look to rebound in Game 5 of the NLCS on Wednesday after their 2-1 defeat to the Dodgers (2-2) in Game 4. Tonight’s game will be the last in the City of Angels as the final two games of the series will be played in Miller Park, Milwaukee.

The Brewers will start with pitcher Wade Miley (5-2, 2.57), who has been lights out in the postseason. He blanked the Dodgers for 5.2 innings in Game 1 and did the same to the Rockies over 4.2 frames in the NLDS.

Pitching has dominated this series as the Brewers are averaging 3.5 runs through the four games and are batting only .231. The Dodgers are even lower, averaging 2.8 runs on .201 hitting.

Three-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Clayton Kershaw (9-5, 2.73) will take the mound as Los Angeles tries to seize the lead in the NLCS. Kershaw was ineffective in Game 1 of this series, allowing five runs in just three innings of a 6-5 Milwaukee win.

The Dodgers took Game 4 In the bottom of the 13th inning after L.A. first baseman and outfielder Cody Bellinger hit the game-winning RBI single to end a five-hour-plus marathon.

“It’s nice seeing results,” Bellinger said. “I’m sticking with the process, but feeling good for most of the series. If I stick to the process they’re going to fall in, and that kind of showed today.”

30 SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2018 – TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW

Bellinger grounded Brewers pitcher Junior José Guerra Maurera’s 3-2 off-speed pitch into right, while Dodgers shortstop Manny Machado slid into the home plate just beating Christian Yelich‘s throw to the plate, giving the Dodgers their first extra-innings postseason win in more than 30 years. The Dodgers were out of the dugout before Machado ever reached home.

Bellinger, who struggled at the plate 1-for-21 this postseason, also chipped in defensively with a diving catch in the 10th. Milwaukee center fielder Lorenzo Cain hit a ball into the right-center field, but Bellinger dived and grabbed it, sliding across Dodger Stadium as if he were on a water slide.

“I saw it hanging up there, ran as fast as I could, and dove for it,” Bellinger said.

The first pitch of Game 5 of the NLCS will air on FS1 at 5:05 p.m. EST in Dodger Stadium, California.

Game 4 of the American League Championship Series

While the defending World Series champion Astros (1-2) will look to avoid a 3-1 deficit, the Red Sox  (2-1) will attempt to take a 3-1 lead as both teams return to Minute Maid Park Wednesday for Game 4 of the ALCS.

On Tuesday, Red Sox manager Alex Cora tentatively named pitcher Rick Porcello the starter for Game 4. Porcello, (17-7, 4.28 ERA)  will make his second start and his fourth postseason appearance. , He went five innings against the Yankees in Game 4 of the ALDS, allowing one run on four hits and struck out two in an inning of work against the Astros on Sunday.

“In the playoffs, you try to win today and then plan for tomorrow,” Cora said. “We know Rick is available tomorrow, he’s in line, but you never know. You never know what can happen today. We might play 25 innings and he has to pitch.”

Houston starting pitcher Charlie Morton (15-3, 3.13) will make his first appearance of the postseason on Wednesday. Morton posted career highs for victories and strikeouts (201) and has faced the Red Sox twice this season, going 1-1 and allowing seven runs over 11.1 innings. He’s pitched just four innings over the last month with his last outing being a three-inning stint against the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 30.

“I tried to keep playing catch, and I threw a lot of (batting practice), threw a bullpen all in the past week and a half,” Morton said at his press conference. “So we discussed just trying to get some rest, take advantage of this time and try to stay sharp at the same time.”

The Red Sox are batting just .212 through three games but are averaging nearly six runs per game. Houston is slightly lower, hitting .194 and averaging nearly five runs. Neither of these teams are hitting the ball especially well, but runs are being scored.

Boston center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. broke Game 3 open with a grand slam in the eighth inning as Boston posted an 8-2 victory to win its second straight in the series.

Red Sox outfielder and designated hitter J.D. Martinez, who hit .330 with 43 HR and 130 RBI, is batting .091 (1-for-11). Shortstop Xander Bogaerts is carrying the team with seven RBIs. The rest of the team has eight.

Boston pitchers have basically stopped throwing to Houston’s infielder Alex Bregman, who is just 2-for-6 hitting with a whopping seven walks. Astros outfielder George Springer is hitting .308 and leads the way with two doubles and four RBI.

The first pitch of Game 4 of the ALCS will air on TBS at 8:39 p.m. EST in Minute Maid Park, Texas.

Jon Lester struck out six batters in seven dominant innings to propel the Chicago Cubs to an 8-4 road victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday night.

Jon Lester Leads Cubs To 8-4, NLCS Game 5 Win Over Dodgers

The Cubs no lead the series 3-2, and are one win away from their first World Series appearance since 1945.

“It’d be foolish for us to get ahead of ourselves, because any time you think like that, it never goes the way you want it to,” the Cubs’ Kris Bryant said, echoing his manager’s mantra. “We’ll be ready to go for Game 6.”

So will Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, who will start when the NLCS moves to Wrigley Field on Saturday night.

“Our guys will absolutely be ready for the moment — I promise you that,” Cubs Manager Joe Maddon said. “It’s great. The city of Chicago has got to be buzzing pretty much right now.”

Maddon deadpanned: “I expect a sellout at Wrigley.”

Addison Russell broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning with a home run — the third homer allowed in the series by reliever Joe Blanton– as Lester won his Game 1 rematch with Kenta Maeda. Russell, 22, is the third-youngest shortstop with multiple career postseason home runs, behind the Astros’ Carlos Correa and Dodgers’ Corey Seager. 

“Right there, that situation, just trying not to do too much,” Russell said. “I was just trying to find some gaps. I was looking for something up in the zone to drive. First-pitch slider a little bit low. Second pitch was a slider, but it was elevated and I put the barrel on it, and it kind of went.

“But just rounding the bases, it was pretty exciting. Pumped up. Not only for myself, but for the team, and that little cushion that Jonny had to go forward from that, and I felt really good.”

Lester held the Dodgers to just one run on five hits. Maeda allowed one run on three hits with six strikeouts, but was removed in the fourth inning two outs after yielding a double to Javier Baez and hitting Jason Heyward with a pitch to open the frame. Each of Maeda’s three postseason starts have been four innings or less.

The Cubs quickly roughed up Maeda, with a single by Dexter Fowler leading off the game, a one-out RBI double from Anthony Rizzo followed by a walk to Ben Zobrist. 

Los Angeles had runners in scoring position three of the first four frames and tied it in the fourth. Howie Kendrick doubled with one out. Kendrick was awarded a steal of third on a replay overturn after originally being called out. With Chicago’s infield in, Adrian Gonzalez’s one-out tapper was fumbled by Rizzo, who settled for the out at first while Kendrick scored.

Blanton, who tossed a tie-breaking, pinch-hit grand slam to Miguel Montero on an 0-2 slider in Game 1, came on for the sixth inning. He allowed a single to Baez, who stole second base. Heyward struck out, but Russell homered to center on an 0-1 slider to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead.

Chicago added five runs (four unearned) in the eighth on infield singles by Fowler and Bryant and a three-run double by Baez. The Dodgers scored twice in the ninth off Aroldis Chapman. 

“You can run into a guy making a spot start on any given day and he could be the best pitcher in the world on that day,” Rizzo said. “Kershaw is just the most consistent, best pitcher in the world.”

Right-hander Kyle Hendricks will start for the Cubs in Game 6 in Chicago on Saturday. The Dodgers will counter with Kershaw.

LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 20: Jon Lester #34 of the Chicago Cubs pitches in the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game five of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium on October 20, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)