MILWAUKEE -- It was center fielder Garrett Mitchell who said it last week, during a discussion about what makes this Brewers team believe it can be different than all of Milwaukee’s other seven postseason qualifiers in the preceding eight years. They all finished short of the World Series. Why should this club believe it is special?
“What feels different,” Mitchell answered, “is that we’re in it until the 27th out. This year, even down to the last out, we still have a chance. That feels different.”
Which brings us to the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 2 of the National League Division Series on Sunday at American Family Field, a dud until it wasn’t, and a 4-3 walk-off win over the Padres on Jackson Chourio’s two-out, two-strike single off elite closer Mason Miller.
"Happy I could come through with that hit there," Chourio said via interpreter Daniel de Mondesert. "I’ve got my family here in the stands, so I dedicate this one to them. Just happy I was able to do it. I don’t have words for this."
It was the third walk-off win in the postseason in Brewers history, with Mike Moustakas’ base hit to end 2018 NLDS Game 1 against the Rockies and Nyjer Morgan’s dribbler up the middle in the 10th inning of 2011 NLDS Game 5 against the D-backs to give Milwaukee its first postseason series victory in 29 years.
In all best-of-five postseason series, teams with a 2-0 lead have gone on to win the series 83 of 93 times (89%). Teams that have won the first two games at home in Division Series with the current 2-2-1 format have gone on to win the series 33 of 36 times (92%). The last time a team rallied from an 0-2 hole in a best-of-five series came in the 2017 ALDS, with the Yankees advancing after dropping the first two games at Cleveland.
The Milwaukee faithful celebrated loudly that day.
They did it all over again on Sunday.
"We’re a team that never backs down," Chourio said. "We’re never going to back down from a challenge, and we like these moments. We’re going to keep going, and we’re going to battle for every opportunity that we get."
The Brewers didn’t look like the 103-win selves all afternoon -- 104 wins, if you count their stirring victory in Game 1 the night before. Postseason newbie Logan Henderson threw a costly wild pitch that led to a run in the first inning and the Brewers committed three errors, tying their season high and contributing to two more runs. They faced a 3-2 deficit going to the bottom of the ninth against Miller, who’d breezed through a 1-2-3 eighth, and was back on the mound for a second inning of work.
Then the Brewers did the thing Mitchell had talked about. After Mitchell grounded out to open the inning, Milwaukee’s newly anointed captain, Christian Yelich, worked a walk. He stole second base. Sal Frelick walked to put the winning run on base.
When pinch-hitter Andrew Vaughn flew out to center field, the Brewers were, indeed, down to the 27th out. Gary Sánchez worked a pinch-hit walk to load the bases for Chourio, one day removed from becoming, at 22 years of age, Milwaukee’s all-time leader in postseason home runs, and two innings removed from grounding out with the bases loaded in the seventh as Miller began to stir.
Given a second opportunity, Milwaukee’s Mr. October got the job done.