MILWAUKEE – Garrett Mitchell struck out with the go-ahead run in scoring position in the eighth inning Friday night and returned to the dugout fuming.
Brewers reliever Abner Uribe was waiting for him.
“Abner was just saying, ‘You’re going to come up here and you’re going to win us the game. So just stay ready,’” Mitchell said. “That was a really good move. A good teammate right there to pick me back up and keep me locked in. It kept my mind in the right spot.”
He was in the right spot to make one nice running catch to end the top of the ninth inning, another nice running catch to end the top of the 10th, and in the right spot once again in the bottom of the 10th to ground a two-out single up the middle for a 2-1 Brewers win over the Marlins at American Family Field.
“I told myself the inning before, ‘If I get up here, I’m going to end this game,’” Mitchell said. “That was my internal thought process.”
Miami’s Griffin Conine and Milwaukee’s Joey Ortiz traded solo home runs in the fifth inning on a night that began as a pitchers’ duel between Sandy Alcantara and Logan Henderson. The teams remained tied at 1-1 into the bottom of the ninth, when the Brewers put the winning run in scoring position with two outs but missed a prime chance to score when Jackson Chourio took a called third strike on an inside pitch but elected not to challenge.
So, he went to second base as the free runner to start the 10th and wound up scoring the winning run on Mitchell’s third career walk-off hit. His last was more than three years ago, a homer to beat the Mets on April 5, 2023.
“You think about his career to this point, and all the injuries,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s never had a chance to get on track. Then you watch him in Spring Training, and you’re like, 'Oof, this is going to be a long road back.'”
After missing much of last season following a second shoulder surgery, Mitchell went 3-for-37 with 20 strikeouts in Spring Training.
For a time, there were questions about whether he’d be the Opening Day center fielder. He was, and he’s come around to the tune of a .277/.366/.460 slash line in a career-high 87 games since the start of the regular season.
“What this kid has done, just give him credit,” Murphy said. “He just keeps showing up and getting better in the outfield, really getting through that inhibition about running through the wall and that type of thing.”
Yes, the catches. Mitchell made a pair of highlight-worthy grabs to keep the game tied in the late innings – one back and to his left to take away extra bases from Miami’s Heriberto Hernández with the go-ahead runner aboard in the ninth inning, and another to his right to retire Joe Mack for the final out of the 10th.
"You see it's a real recipe for winning a lot of games,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “They didn't walk anybody tonight, and you make some really nice plays that save some runs. In close games like this, it makes a difference.”
Which catch had a higher degree of difficulty?
“The first one,” Mitchell said. “I think it was a little bit easier going to my right on the second one. I was able to gauge the ball off the bat a little bit easier.”
After the first catch, Brewers closer Trevor Megill waited at the top step of the dugout to high-five his center fielder.
“That was a great catch,” Megill said. “Saved the game right there.”
“We have basically have three shortstops on the infield at a time, and three center fielders, and then you have [William] Contreras behind the plate,” said reliever Craig Yoho, who was on the mound for Mitchell’s catch in the 10th and emerged with his first Major League win. “It’s great having the confidence to make pitches, knowing that if the ball is put in play, we’re going to get outs.”
The Brewers (60-37) joined the Dodgers (62-36) as the only teams in the Majors at the 60-win plateau, a welcome development for Milwaukee after getting swept in Pittsburgh in the final series before the All-Star break.
“We were all very frustrated with how the first half ended, not really doing what we do,” Mitchell said. “After playing 18 games in 17 days, I think we were all ready for a couple days off to re-collect ourselves physically and mentally. I felt like we came out today and kept it close and played like a better version of ourselves today. I think that’s a great way to start the second half.”