MILWAUKEE -- Game 1 of the National League Division Series turned on one of the strangest plays you’ll see all year, and maybe ever at American Family Field.
With one out and one on in the top of the ninth inning Saturday night, Ty France launched a towering drive to left. The ball hit a cable on the roof of the ballpark, and from there it became impossible to tell whether it had stayed fair or drifted foul. It ended up in the glove of Jackson Chourio, and the Brewers finished off a 3-2 win a batter later.
The building’s ground rules left the decision in play. At American Family Field, a batted ball that strikes the roof, roof truss or a roof cable over fair territory remains live, and if a fielder catches it, the batter is out and the runners can advance at their own risk. If the same kind of ball hits any of those parts over foul territory, it’s dead.
Padres manager Craig Stammen said the possibility came up before the game.
"We joked about it at the umpire meeting today about what would happen if the ball hit the roof," Stammen said. "And it was unlikely, but it happened. ...
Unfortunately, a bad break for us. Looked like it was a possible home run.
Just didn't go our way. Second time that's happened this year to the Padres.
We should be able to bounce back just fine from it."
The swing itself only added to the weirdness. France’s ball came off at a 49-degree launch angle, and in the Statcast era only 10 home runs over the fence have had a launch angle that steep. At American Family Field, there has never been a home run with a launch angle above 46 degrees.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy had his own explanation ready.
"I think the only thing that you could probably figure on the ball that everybody's going to be talking about is that [Bob Uecker] decided to put his hand on it and swat it down so Chourio could catch it," Murphy said. "So thanks, Ueck."
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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 🡒]
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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 🡒]