The Brewers didn’t just survive Game 2. They stole it, again, and they did it with the kind of late-inning chaos that has become their calling card.
Milwaukee’s 2-0 lead in the NLDS now looks every bit as sturdy as it does dramatic. The Brewers trailed late, faced Mason Miller in the ninth, and still found a way to finish the job. Jackson Chourio was right in the middle of it, just as he was in Game 1, when he delivered a two-run, walk-off single up the middle after Miller started to lose the strike zone.
The whole thing was supposed to be a tough ask. The Brewers were sitting on an 11% win probability with one out in the ninth, and Miller had been nearly untouchable during the regular season, saving 38 of 41 chances with a 1.67 ERA.
That didn’t matter once Milwaukee started grinding at-bats and drawing walks. Three walks against Miller set the table for Chourio, who lined a ball at 109.5 miles per hour off the bat for the second-hardest hit in the game.
That swing gave Chourio another place in Brewers history. He became the third-youngest player ever to record a walk-off postseason hit, following two different Edgar Renteria knocks in 1997, according to Sarah Langs. He also joined 2018 Mike Moustakas and 2011 Nyjer Morgan as the only Brewers with postseason walk-off hits.
And really, this was Milwaukee being Milwaukee. The Brewers won 103 games in the regular season, and 42 of those came in comeback fashion.
They also had six walk-off wins before the playoffs even began. At American Family Field, the formula has been even more relentless: with the regular season and postseason combined, the Brewers are now 57-26 with a +168 run differential.
That home-field edge showed up again when the game tilted late. Once the Brewers got a crack in the door, they kept pushing until it swung open.
For the Padres, the night belonged to Mason Miller’s rough ninth inning, and maybe to the decision-making that put him there. Miller had never recorded a two-inning save in the regular season, but the situation demanded extra work after the Padres had already leaned on their bullpen in Game 1.
He breezed through the eighth, then got the first out in the ninth before Christian Yelich walked and stole second. Another walk came next, and after Miller got the second out, Gary Sanchez drew a walk as a pinch-hitter in the nine-hole to bring Chourio up.
There will be plenty of debate about whether Craig Stammen should have gone to Miller that long, especially with Michael King having thrown five strong innings. King had carried a no-hit effort through four innings and finished with 5 IP, H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 72 pitches. He was pulled after one batter in the sixth, even though the move made some sense after he allowed three straight hits with two outs in the fifth and then hit the first batter of the sixth.
The Padres bullpen had enough depth to cover four innings, even without the unavailable Adrián Morejón. Miller himself had gone two innings twice during the season, though not in save situations, and both times he earned the win in extras. There was also rocky defense behind him on one of the Brewers’ runs.
Still, none of that changed the ending. Milwaukee kept coming, and San Diego couldn’t stop it. Now the Padres are down 2-0 and staring at a steep climb.
In Other News...
Brewers Hold On After Wild Ninth Inning Call Sparks Padres Fury
A bizarre ninth-inning moment at American Family Field became the defining flashpoint of Game 1 of the National League Division Series, when Ty France sent a fly ball high enough to strike a cable on the roof before Jackson Chourio made the catch for the Brewers. The umpires ruled it an out under the ballparks ground rules, deciding the ball had hit over fair territory, and the call immediately turned a tense postseason game into the kind of replay-worthy controversy that tends to linger long after the final pitch.
For Milwaukee, the ruling helped preserve a hard-fought win, but it also left the Padres simmering over how the final inning unfolded. Craig Stammen and Pat Murphy both addressed the play afterward, along with players involved, as the odd sequence became less about the mechanics of a ruling and more about the pressure-cooker reality of October baseball, where a single strange bounce can reshape a whole series opener. [Read more 🡒]
Jacob Misiorowski's Wild NLDS Start Left Brewers Fans With One Concern
Jacob Misiorowskis NLDS debut gave Brewers fans exactly the kind of electricity they have come to expect from the rookie right-hander, and then some. In Game 1 against the Padres, he reached a new velocity peak with a 104.8 mph pitch and kept the fastball coming, piling up 52 pitches at 100 mph or harder while working four innings and striking out six.
For Milwaukee, the appeal is obvious. Misiorowskis stuff can change a series in a hurry, and he left the opener having allowed two runs on four hits and a walk before the Brewers turned to the bullpen with the game still hanging in the balance. The only real question now is how that kind of effort shapes what comes next, because outings like that can be a weapon and a warning at the same time. [Read more 🡒]
Willson Contreras Just Changed An Early Brewers Playoff Storyline
The Brewers opened their NL Division Series with a tight 3-2 win over the Padres, and the biggest swing came from a familiar face who had been at the center of a late-season flashpoint. Willson Contreras delivered the go-ahead solo homer in the seventh inning after Jackson Chourio had already dragged Milwaukee back into the game with a tying two-run shot earlier, giving the Brewers the kind of timely power they have been chasing as October pressure ramps up.
Contreras performance carries extra weight because manager Pat Murphy benched him late in the regular season over a lack of hustle, a decision that had left his role under the microscope going into the postseason. Instead of letting that become the headline, Contreras answered in the first game that mattered most, giving Milwaukee an early playoff storyline built around response, not resentment, even if the full impact of that turnaround is still unfolding. [Read more 🡒]