MLB division series: Lineups, analysis from NLDS Game 4s

Two Game 4s in the National League Division Series -- one elimination and one decisive Game 5.

The first matchup between the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers was a pitchers' duel that went 11 innings, finally ending with Andy Pages driving in Hyeseong Kim for the winning run to punch the Dodgers' ticket to the National League Championship Series and send the Phillies packing.

The Chicago Cubs came out swinging in a must-win Game 4, taking an early lead over the Milwaukee Brewers and never looking back en route to a shutout victory that sends the series back to Milwaukee for a win-or-go-home Game 5 on Saturday. 

We've got you covered with the day's top moments and takeaways from each game.

Takeaways

Chicago Cubs 6, Milwaukee Brewers 0

Series tied 2-2

It was redemption night for the Chicago Cubs as much maligned starter Matthew Boyd and struggling outfielder Ian Happ came up big to help force a Game 5 on Saturday back in Milwaukee. Boyd, coming off a terrible start in Game 1, pitched 4⅔ scoreless innings, showing stuff on his pitches that escaped him five days ago. An extra day of rest seemed to make the difference. So did playing at home, where he's now 13-1 this season. Happ -- hitting just .095 in the playoffs coming into the game -- took Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta deep for a three-run homer in the first inning as the Cubs continued a trend of scoring early.

This time, though, they added on in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings as Kyle Tucker went opposite field for his first long ball of the postseason and Michael Busch hit his third blast of this series. Credit a raucous Wrigley Field crowd for helping the home team, especially in the first inning as they chanted "Fred-dy, Fred-dy," seemingly distracting Peralta's early mojo. He gave up two hits, a walk and three runs in that opening inning and the Cubs never looked back. The Brewers' offense has gone backward from Games 1 and 2. Being back at home Saturday should be a welcome relief for them after Thursday's drubbing. -- Jesse Rogers

The Milwaukee Brewers had to like their chances of wrapping up the series considering they had their ace Peralta going against Boyd, who not only got knocked out in the first inning of Game 1 but had kind of crawled to the finish line with a 5.31 ERA in September. But the Brewers couldn't do anything against Boyd, and Peralta gave up the big home run to Happ in the first inning. Once the Cubs extended their lead in the middle innings, it became more game management for skipper Pat Murphy, who kept his best relievers in the bullpen.

That's because Game 5 is set up to be a bullpen game. Considering the Brewers' first-inning pitching struggles, maybe Murphy just starts Jacob Misiorowski, who looked good in a three-inning scoreless appearance in Game 2, and tells him to throw as hard as he can for as long as he can. Game 4 also highlighted another problem: The Brewers have scored just one run after the fourth inning in the first four games, so the Chicago bullpen has been just as tough as Milwaukee's. The Cubs have also outhomered the Brewers in the series 8 to 4. Milwaukee's way has worked all season, but the Cubs' power got them back into the series. The Brewers will have to shut that power down in Game 5. -- David Schoenfield

Los Angeles Dodgers 2, Philadelphia Phillies 1

Los Angeles wins series 3-1

This one, baseball friends, was most definitely not a snooze-fest, not when every pitch mattered, when the tension kept ratcheting up, inning after inning. In the end, it will be remembered for the completely bizarre finish to the game, when Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering -- for some reason only the baseball gods will understand, or perhaps not realizing there were two outs in a game he had just entered -- tried to throw home after bobbling Andy Pages' tapper to the mound instead of throwing to first base, where he had plenty of time to get Pages. One of the craziest endings to a playoff game ever.

Before that, there was a pitching duel between Tyler Glasnow and Cristopher Sanchez, the second game of this series to go scoreless through six innings. Phillies fans will understandably complain about the 2-2 non-strike call on Alex Call in the seventh inning that was followed by ball four, which led to the tying run when Mookie Betts somehow laid off a 3-2, 101 mph fastball just out of the strike zone from Jhoan Duran for a walk to force in the tying run.

And before that, Phillies manager Rob Thomson intentionally walked Shohei Ohtani -- 1-for-17 with eight strikeouts at that point in the series -- to load the bases for Betts. Maybe the baseball gods were simply frowning on that decision. Nobody ever said the gods were gentle. The Dodgers' quest to repeat remains alive while the Phillies suffer a bitter defeat, heading home for the fourth consecutive season, knowing they had a roster good enough to win it all. -- Schoenfield

Mookie Betts barely blinked as he stood on the field shortly after the Dodgers scored the winning run to eliminate the Phillies and advance to the NLCS. "I couldn't even move," he said of how he experienced those last few innings. Winning that series, and dispatching a Phillies team that talented, was one of the hardest challenges Betts had ever experienced. Doing so, he added, said a lot about the mettle of this year's team. Like last year, when they beat the San Diego Padres in five games in the NLDS, the Dodgers conquered what was probably their most difficult foe early on in October. There will be other challenges, of course. But now Ohtani won't face a team with so many devastating lefty starters who could suffocate him offensively. And the Dodgers' shorthanded-yet-talented pitching staff won't face a lineup this talented. -- Alden Gonzalez

Top moments

We've got you covered with all the top moments from both NLDS Game 4s on Thursday.

Brewers at Cubs

Chicago staves off elimination with dominant Game 4