Bauers' 'best at-bat of my life' culminates in clutch HR on 12th pitch

MILWAUKEE – Martín Pérez got a new ball and took a second to regroup on the American Family Field mound. For the second time Saturday afternoon, Atlanta’s southpaw found himself struggling to put away Jake Bauers.

The Brewers right fielder had just fouled off the seventh consecutive pitch of his third-inning at-bat, a battle that got progressively more irritating for Pérez. Over and over he tried to get Bauers out, only to watch him spoil pitch after pitch.

“That's called ‘draggin' ‘em,’” manager Pat Murphy said. “I don't think you can have a better at-bat than that. That's the epitome of draggin' ‘em.”

As Pérez gathered himself on the bump, he wound up to throw his 12th offering of the plate appearance, heaving a four-seamer to the up-and-away corner of the strike zone.

Bauers got his bat on that one, too. Pérez initially didn’t even bother to look to see where it went. He knew that ball wasn’t landing in play, either.

Instead of dribbling it into foul territory, Bauers blasted this one a Statcast-projected 413 feet over the center-field wall for a tiebreaking two-run homer. His arduous at-bat tied for the longest in the Majors this season to end in a home run (Cal Raleigh, Dominic Smith), and it gave Milwaukee more than enough fuel in a series-clinching 4-1 win over the Braves.

“That one felt good,” Bauers said. “I got into the dugout, I told Murph, ‘That might have been the best at-bat of my life.’ Obviously, it means a little more when you’re 12 pitches deep and trying to get a job done.”

In fairness to Pérez, that result came with fair warning considering how his first duel with Bauers went.

Pérez quickly got ahead of him 0-2 in the first inning, only for Bauers to work his way back to a full count. Just as he did in the third, Bauers continuously refused to strike out, fouling off four straight pitches. Jackson Chourio, who’d reached on a leadoff walk, continued to sprint toward second on each of Pérez’s full-count windups, trudging back to first after every foul ball.

Bauers eventually worked his way to an 11-pitch walk, bringing an early spike to Pérez’s pitch count and prompting an early mound visit. The Braves lefty eventually threw 97 pitches over his four-inning start, 24% of which came against Bauers.

“I think he shocked himself,” Murphy said. “It was that incredible. You add 23 pitches to a pitcher in the first three or four innings, that's an extra inning for sure just on one hitter. That was amazing, game-changing-type stuff.”

Pérez attempted to prevent that game-changing result in the third by completely revising his approach.

After throwing Bauers mostly sinkers in the first inning, Pérez unleashed a wide variety of pitches while trying to get the 30-year-old out quicker in their second duel. He mixed in three sinkers, two curves, four changeups, one cutter and one four-seamer before throwing the fateful final pitch. No matter what Pérez threw, Bauers kept staying alive until dishing out the crushing blow to deep center.

“That was an unbelievable at-bat,” said Brewers starter Logan Henderson, who threw six innings of one-run ball in his 18th consecutive start allowing three earned runs or fewer. “As a pitcher, it's tough when you're emptying the kitchen sink and feel like you’re making really good pitches, and the guy keeps spoiling it. Then you leave one out over the plate, and he punishes it. That's a tough feeling.

“Credit to JB for putting on a hell of an at-bat. That was a momentum shift there for sure.”

It was yet another 2026 highlight for Bauers, who continues to thrive in what has been the best season of his seven-year career. His team-leading 23 homers are nearly double his previous career high (12). Every aspect of his .273/.384/.506 slash line has never been better, a testament to the far more even-keeled mentality he has brought to the plate all season long.

“Every Major League player feels so much responsibility to perform and get results,” Murphy said. “And it's a dangerous thing when you don't get it. … I think Jake has been through enough in his career that he's come into his own. He has a belief system now. He understands who he is.”

Frustrating as this development might have been for Pérez, at least Bauers was polite enough to let him know early that he wasn’t going to be an easy out on Saturday.

He just so happened to send that message a little louder come the third inning.