The Milwaukee Brewers' Caleb Durbin hits a double against the Dodgers in the seventh inning in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday in Los Angeles. (AP photo)

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers are poised to become the first defending champion to reach the World Series in 16 years.

Tommy Edman hit a tiebreaking single off hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski in a two-run sixth inning, and the Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-1 on Thursday to take a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven NL Championship Series.

A team that needed to win a Wild Card Series at the start of the playoffs is 8-1 in the postseason behind outstanding starting pitching, an improved bullpen and just enough offense.

“We’re just excited,” said Edman, the 2024 NLCS MVP. “We didn’t play great during the regular season and we’re getting hot at the right time.”

No defending champion has reached the World Series since the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies. No team has won consecutive titles since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees took three in a row.

“You got to treat it like it’s a do-or-die game,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. “You can’t look ahead, and I think that’s something a lot of teams struggle with.”

Game 4 was scheduled for Friday. The only one of the 41 teams that overcame a 3-0 postseason deficit was the 2004 Boston Red Sox against the Yankees, sparked by current Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

“We’re up, but like Kobe (Bryant) said, ‘The job’s not done,'” Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts said. “We got to keep going and just keep applying pressure. We got to keep in mind we’re five wins away from what we really want.”

Shohei Ohtani tripled off Andy Ashby to start the bottom of the first and scored on Betts’ double to put the Dodgers ahead, but Jake Bauers tied the score with an RBI single in the second.

That was the only run allowed by Tyler Glasnow, who has combined with Ohtani, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to give Dodgers starters a 1.54 postseason ERA.

Misiorowski replaced Ashby with two on and one out in the first, and struck out Edman and Teoscar Hernández. The 23-year-old right-hander topped 100 mph with 17 pitches and struck out a Brewers postseason rookie record nine, but his fastball velocity dropped to 98-99 mph slightly in the sixth.

Will Smith singled with one out on a slider in the middle of the strike zone and Freddie Freeman walked after falling behind 1-2 in the count. Edman, who had struck out twice against Misiorowski, lined a low slider into center on Misiorowski’s 73rd and final pitch. Smith scored for a 2-1 lead as Sal Frelick made a weak throw.

“Misiorowski was nasty today. He’s got unbelievable stuff,” Edman said. “Will did a good job of capitalizing on a mistake and hitting one in the gap. He gave me one I could hit and fortunately, we were able to scrape one across and let our pitching do the rest.”

Abner Uribe relieved and struck out Hernández, then made a wild pickoff throw past first as Freeman scored, the second straight game with an error by the Brewers closer.

“I was really surprised,” Edman said. “I’m glad it happened. It gave us that insurance run.”

Glasnow allowed three hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings while striking out eight, leaving to a standing ovation from the crowd of 51,251.

Alex Vesia followed Glasnow and got two outs for his second win of the playoffs.

Rookie Roki Sasaki pitched a perfect ninth, finishing a four-hitter. Dodgers relievers allowed one hit in 3 1/3 innings. A rookie moved to the bullpen when he returned from a four-month injury layoff in the season’s final week, Sasaki became the first pitcher since saves became an official statistic in 1969 to earn each of his first three career saves in the postseason.

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