Yes, there's even more to digest from Brewers-A's instant classic

LAS VEGAS -- It was one of those games where the story of the night only scratched the surface.

The Brewers’ 12-inning, 15-14 win over the A’s in the first regular-season game in Las Vegas in 30 years was worth the wait if you’re a fan of offense. The teams combined for 11 home runs and traded four-run rallies in the 10th inning while playing the longest game in Major League Baseball this season (four hours, 14 minutes to match Milwaukee’s 414 area code). Beyond all that, they combined to set a single-game record with 16 Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) System challenges.

You'll find all of that accounted for in our game story. But there was so much more:

Contreras has a sitdown

For purposes of full disclosure, because these games are being played in a Triple-A ballpark with a small press box, there is no space for visiting staff and sportswriters. That means some of those writers were sitting in stadium seats -- putting the “lap” in laptop computer -- and didn’t see a replay of William Contreras’ booming three-run homer in the 10th inning until the following morning.

It showed what television viewers saw in the moment, that when he sent the baseball soaring, Contreras took a knee, sat on his backside for a moment and then flipped his bat toward the visitors’ dugout in arguably the Brewers’ best home run highlight of the year.

Don’t forget Grant Anderson …

So many hours had passed that it was easy to overlook that the best pitching performance of the night belonged to right-hander Grant Anderson, who took over from starter Kyle Harrison in the third inning after Harrison -- who’d allowed 10 runs total in his first 11 Brewers starts -- was tagged for eight runs and a trio of homers while recording seven outs against the A’s.

Anderson managed to pitch like this was a normal environment, going 2 2/3 scoreless innings with one walk and three strikeouts, and giving the Brewers a chance to start chipping away at what had been an 8-4 A’s lead.

Adding to the level of difficulty, this was Anderson’s second appearance since he took a line drive off his pitching forearm in last week’s series finale against the Giants. It hit him so flush that it left behind seam marks from the baseball.

… Or Chad Patrick

With closer Trevor Megill down with “discomfort,” per manager Pat Murphy, it was up to starter-turned-reliever Patrick to protect a one-run lead in the bottom of the 12th. That’s no easy task for any pitcher new to a closer-type situation, made even more difficult by the presence of the automatic runner at second base to start the inning.

“I told myself that they’re probably going to bunt here, and you’re going to put your big boy pants on and get a couple of strikeouts,” Patrick said.

And that’s just what happened. Alika Williams bunted the runner over. Patrick struck out Shea Langeliers, intentionally walked Nick Kurtz -- “I might never pitch to him again,” said Murphy after watching Kurtz hit a perfect up-and-in pitch for a two-run homer in the 10th -- and then struck out longtime Brewers nemesis Jeff McNeil to end the game.

“In those situations, when balls are sailing everywhere, you want to execute everything the best you can," Patrick said. “That’s what I did. I’ve played here and I’ve seen it. It’s definitely crazy.”

… Or Joel Kuhnel casually throwing 100 mph

Kuhnel joined the Brewers on Monday, two days after being acquired in a trade with the A’s for cash and three days after the A’s designated him for assignment. He’s averaging 94.5 mph with his sinker this season and 94.8 mph with his four-seamer, according to Statcast.

In his Brewers debut, facing his former team, he averaged 98.9 mph with his sinker, 99.6 mph with his four-seamer and topped out at 100.5 mph, per Statcast -- the fastest pitch thrown by any Brewers pitcher this season not named Jacob Misiorowski or Abner Uribe.

The Crew tied two franchise records and set another

Tip of the cap to Brewers PR man Mike Vassallo for noting that the Brewers tied a pair of club records and matched one Major League record on Monday. Their 20 strikeouts matched the franchise mark for any game (the second time this season that the Brewers have combined for 20), and their 14 runs allowed tied the franchise record for most runs allowed in a win. The Brewers also allowed 14 runs in a 15-14, 14-inning win on Aug. 17, 2019, at Washington, on a night Christian Yelich hit his 40th and 41st home runs of that season.

MLB.com’s incomparable researcher Sarah Langs noticed that unique final score and found that those are the only two 15-14 games across Major League Baseball in the last 25 seasons. The Brewers won both of them on the road.

And the Brewers set a new franchise record by allowing seven home runs in a win, tying the MLB record, per the Brewers. The last team to allow seven home runs and win, coincidentally, was the A’s, in an August 2022 game against the Angels. The previous Brewers record was six homers allowed in a 19-8 win at Boston on May 31, 1980.