Jackson Chourio stepped into the kind of at-bat players picture for years and turned it into a postseason signature.
With the bases loaded, two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth, he sent a 109.5 MPH line drive back through the middle, just past the dive of Jake Cronenworth. Christian Yelich scored without a problem, and while Jackson Merrill handled the ball in center and Sal Frelick was waved home, the throw from the outfield sailed a little wide and Freddy Fermin couldn’t secure it cleanly. By then, Frelick looked safe anyway.
That single gave the Brewers a walk-off win and a 2-0 series lead.
It was a finish that masked how often Milwaukee had been on the back foot. For most of the night, the Brewers did not look like the side that was controlling anything.
Logan Henderson kept them alive, even as San Diego kept making him work. He nearly struck out the side in the first before a Manny Machado check swing was ruled to have not gone, and that turned into a walk.
A wild pitch moved Machado to second, then Ty France pushed a single the other way to bring home the first run. Henderson settled in after that and retired eight straight.
Milwaukee’s defense, though, never quite settled with him.
In the fifth, Brice Turang missed a routine double-play chance right up the middle, the ball slipping through his legs. That left runners at the corners with one out.
Turang then made the next play cleanly, but Pratt’s relay to first was short and couldn’t be picked, which counted as another error and allowed another run to score. Suddenly, San Diego was up 2-0.
Michael King had been even sharper. He opened with four perfect innings and retired the first 14 hitters he faced before the Brewers finally cracked him with two outs in the fifth.
Yelich doubled hard into the right-field corner, and even though Fernando Tatis Jr. bobbled the ball, Xander Bogaerts sold the moment with a perfect deke, laying down a fake tag that convinced Yelich to slide into second rather than take a chance at third. The fake didn’t erase the damage, though.
Sal Frelick followed with a single to left on an 0-1 pitch to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Cooper Pratt added a single, putting two on for David Hamilton, but Hamilton popped out to third and the inning ended there.
Both clubs turned to the bullpen one batter into the sixth, and the score stayed frozen at 2-1 until the seventh, when the Padres added an insurance run after another Milwaukee mistake. David Hamilton’s fielding error let Fernando Tatis Jr. reach, and Abner Uribe’s walk to Machado moved Tatis to second.
Ty France then singled him in. Frelick did throw Machado out trying to advance to third, but the run had already crossed, making it 3-1.
Milwaukee answered in the bottom half. Garrett Mitchell opened with a single, and Yelich crushed a ball to left-center that looked headed for extra bases before Merrill tracked it down with a leaping catch.
Frelick drew a walk, Pratt reached on a fielder’s choice, and then Hamilton chopped a ball toward second. Cronenworth bobbled it, rushed the throw and fired it into the dugout, bringing Mitchell home and leaving runners on second and third for Chourio.
He grounded out to short, and with Mason Miller looming for the final two innings, the Brewers’ best chance seemed to be gone.
It wasn’t.
Yelich opened the ninth with a walk and stole a base. Frelick walked behind him.
Pat Murphy went to the bench, first calling on Andrew Vaughn, who flew out to center, then Gary Sanchez, who worked a full count and drew a walk to load the bases. That set the stage for Chourio again.
He didn’t miss this time.
“He’s, I think, turning into a bona fide, top-flight player. Couldn’t be happier for him because he brings it every day.” Pat Murphy said.
”He loves those moments. And he knows how talented he is and what he can do on a baseball field.
He can do anything. So when he comes up in that situation, just with everything that’s going on in that inning, you just feel good about it.”
Christian Yelich said.
Chourio had said in September that he felt he was “born for those moments” when the game is on the line, and he later explained where that feeling started. He pointed back to April 6, 2024, his rookie season, and a game against Seattle.
He said: “I look back to my first year, my rookie year. It was a game against Seattle.
And I think I was the last out, punched out against (Andres) Munoz. He was on the mound at the time.
At that point, everything turned for me. I told myself i was never going to make the last out.
I’d dedicate myself to fighting and doing whatever I could for the team and not having that feeling again from that specific game.”
That game was seven games into his MLB career. The Brewers lost 5-3, and it was the only loss in that series. Now, a random April night in Seattle has become part of the path to one of the biggest swings in franchise postseason history.
Milwaukee didn’t play a clean game. It didn’t need to. The Brewers are heading to San Diego with a 2-0 lead, and after the way Game 2 ended, this one will be hard to forget.
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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 🡒]