And the youngsters shall lead them.
Standing six outs away from bowing out meekly yet again in the postseason, the Milwaukee Brewers got a game-tying home run from Jackson Chourio and a go-ahead, two-run home run from Garrett Mitchell to blaze past the New York Mets, 5-3, Wednesday night in Game 2 of the National League wild-card series at American Family Field.
Chourio’s homer was his second of the game; he led off the bottom of the first with an opposite-field shot off Mets starter Sean Manaea three pitches in.
Mitchell, meanwhile, had entered the game as a pinch-runner in the sixth. The at-bat was his first of the game and came after Willy Adames singled to left with two outs and the score tied at 3-3.
Phil Maton hung a first-pitch curveball and Mitchell hammered it out to right-center, electrifying the crowd while he gestured to fans while rounding the bases.
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Devin Williams retired the Mets in order in the ninth, putting the finishing touches on the Brewers’ six-game losing streak in the playoffs that dated to 2021.
Jackson Chourio has a short memory
‘I think it’s going to be a beautiful game out there,’ is what Chourio told reporters early Tuesday afternoon.
Then, three pitches into the bottom of the first Wednesday, he smacked an 0-2 sinker left out over the plate by Manaea out to right to pull the Brewers even with the Mets at 1-1 and send the crowd of 40,350 into a frenzy.
It was the second postseason leadoff homer in franchise history. Corey Hart led off Game 6 of the 2011 NLCS by going deep against the St. Louis Cardinals.
What an answer by the 20-year-old Chourio to his fifth-inning fielding gaffe in Game 1, a miscue that helped open the door to a game-turning, five-run rally by the Mets in an 8-4 loss.
The first-inning homer was the second Manaea allowed to the Brewers in five days. Rhys Hoskins slugged a grand slam against him last Friday.
More fielding woes for Milwaukee pitchers
Three batters after Chourio misplayed Tyrone Taylor’s fly ball into a double in Game 1, Joel Payamps failed to cover first base in a timely fashion on a ground ball by José Iglesias. That slight hesitation allowed Iglesias to slide head-first into the bag just ahead of Payamps touching it and shortly thereafter the dam burst.
A similarly bad mistake was made in the second inning Wednesday, only this time by Frankie Montas and on a ground ball to the right side by Starling Marte.
Hoskins fielded the ball and made a perfect toss to Montas, who got to the bag in plenty of time but somehow failed to make the catch. Taylor and Francisco Alvarez followed with singles, and then Francisco Lindor hit a sacrifice fly to left to put New York back in front, 3-1.
It’s the fourth postseason game Montas has appeared in during his nine-year career, and there probably haven’t been many easier plays than the one he failed to make.
Another short leash for a Milwaukee starter
Freddy Peralta allowed three second-inning runs in Game 1 but eventually found his groove and retired nine straight batters before being pulled by manager Pat Murphy with his pitch count at only 68.
There’s certainly something to the ‘third time through the order’ argument, but after seeing things immediately go south once Payamps entered only provided more fuel to the fire for fans who believed Murphy’s hook for Peralta was too quick.
Montas had retired six of seven batters, including the last two via strikeout, before being lifted by Murphy with a runner on second in the fourth and his pitch count at 60.
Trevor Megill entered and induced a flyout to keep it a 3-1 game and close the book on a six-hit, three-run (one earned), one-walk, three-strikeout start for Montas.
The Brewers’ veterans have been (mostly) MIA
One of the more intriguing storylines coming into the series was how the Brewers’ core of young and inexperienced players would perform with the lights at their brightest.
As it turns out, they’ve been more than OK. Chourio has shined, Brice Turang has multiple hits in each game and Sal Frelick has exhibited tremendous toughness by playing through a painful left hip contusion and generating offense at the bottom of the lineup.
Milwaukee’s veterans, however, have been a different story.
Adames was 0 for 3 with a walk in Game 1 and 1 for 4 with a run scored in Game 2. William Contreras was 1 for 4 with two RBI in Game 1 and 1 for 4 in Game 2. And Hoskins was 0 for 3 with an RBI and a walk in Game 1 and 0 for 4 in Game 2.
Needless to say, it’s tough to win any sort of game with such a glaring lack of production from your best and most consistent run producers, let alone in the postseason.
The rookie comes through yet again
And right on cue, when the Brewers needed a lift and the air had been let out of the crowd of 40,350, Chourio delivered.
With New York holding a 3-2 lead and only three outs away from being able to turn the game over to closer Edwin Diaz, the rookie stepped to the plate against the right-hander Maton.
In a 1-1 count, Chourio got a cutter up and over the plate and again sent the ball out to right, this time hitting it off the facing of the second deck to tie it at 3-3.
Talk about clutch performers. Think the Brewers are happy to have the kid locked up long-term?
This story was updated to add new information.
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