clickondetroit
In a thrilling NL Division Series opener on Saturday night, the Milwaukee Brewers edged the San Diego Padres 3-2, aided by a peculiar play in the ninth inning. William Contreras delivered a tiebreaking home run in the seventh, and the Brewers' defense held firm despite a late threat.
With one out in the ninth and a runner on first, San Diego's Ty France launched a towering fly ball that struck a railing on the American Family Field roof. Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio caught the ball in fair territory on the left-field warning track, resulting in an out under the stadium's ground rules. Any batted ball that hits the roof or its cables in fair territory is considered a fair ball and can be caught for an out. The Padres challenged the call, arguing it was foul, but the ruling stood. Jackson Merrill then lined out to right to end the game.
Chourio also contributed a two-run homer as Milwaukee secured its 16th win in 19 games. San Diego, meanwhile, suffered just its fourth loss in its last 24 outings, despite chasing Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski after four innings.
The best-of-five series continues on Sunday with Game 2, featuring a pitching matchup between San Diego's Michael King (12-10, 3.21 ERA) and Milwaukee's Logan Henderson (11-3, 2.47).
Contreras, who had managed only one hit in 20 at-bats against the Padres this season, came through with the game's biggest hit on a 3-2 pitch from Adrian Morejon. His 406-foot shot cleared the wall in right-center field, and the three-time All-Star turned toward the Brewers' dugout to celebrate with teammates as he rounded first base.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Contreras joined his brother Willson Contreras to become the fifth set of brothers to homer in the same postseason. The others are Ken and Clete Boyer (1964), Sandy Jr. and Roberto Alomar (1997), Stephen and J.D. Drew (2007), and Bo and Josh Naylor (2025). Willson Contreras homered in Game 2 of Boston's AL Wild Card Series loss to the New York Yankees.
San Diego squandered numerous scoring opportunities throughout the night, especially in the later innings. The Padres loaded the bases in the seventh against Abner Uribe, but DL Hall retired Merrill on a fly to left to end the threat. In the eighth, San Diego put runners on first and second with one out after Hall issued two walks, but again failed to capitalize. Austin Hays hit a fly to right that advanced pinch-runner Samad Taylor to third, then Trevor Megill struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. on three pitches to strand runners on the corners. Megill then worked around a leadoff single to Dustin Harris in the ninth to earn the save, with a major assist from the roof.
Milwaukee entered the postseason after winning a franchise-record 103 games, securing home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Misiorowski played a key role in that success, posting a 1.80 ERA, striking out 252 batters, and limiting hitters to a .157 batting average, leading the majors in all three categories. In his first playoff start, Misiorowski opened by throwing a 104.8 mph strike to Tatis, the fastest postseason pitch since tracking began in 2008. However, the 6-foot-7 right-hander exited earlier than usual as the Padres fouled off 30 of his 88 pitches—31 if you count Xander Bogaerts' popup caught in foul territory.
San Diego took a 2-0 lead with two runs off Misiorowski in the second inning. Bogaerts, Ethan Salas, and Luis Campusano hit consecutive one-out singles, with Campusano's base hit to right driving in Bogaerts. Jake Cronenworth then hit a broken-bat grounder, and first baseman Jake Bauers couldn't throw out Salas at the plate. The Padres could have done more damage, but Manny Machado grounded out to leave the bases loaded.
The Brewers responded in the third thanks to Chourio, who has already established himself as one of the game's top playoff performers at age 22. With a runner on second and one out, Chourio delivered a 420-foot drive over the wall in left-center for his franchise-record fifth career postseason homer in his 13th playoff game. Chourio had shared the mark with Prince Fielder and Orlando Arcia. According to MLB.com, the only other players to hit five playoff homers before their 23rd birthday are Kyle Schwarber and Juan Soto.
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Originally reported by clickondetroit.