MILWAUKEE -- In their heart of hearts, the Padres would almost certainly have signed up for a split in Milwaukee this weekend.
Petco Park has been a fortress this year. Win just one of the first two games of this National League Division Series at American Family Field, and you come back home feeling like you’ve taken full control of the series.
All of that remains eminently possible.
But on a night like this one -- a night when they grabbed an early two-run lead against presumptive NL Cy Young favorite Jacob Misiorowski, then chased him after four innings and 88 pitches -- the Padres could only lament a missed opportunity.
William Contreras hit a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, sending Milwaukee to a 3-2 victory over San Diego in Game 1 on Saturday night. He launched a 100.1 mph sinker from Padres lefty Adrian Morejon a Stastcast-projected 406 feet to the opposite field, putting San Diego behind for the first time this postseason.
The Padres had their chances late. They couldn’t make them count.
From the start, San Diego made Misiorowski work. He came out firing -- throwing the two fastest postseason pitches ever recorded by Statcast in the pitch tracking era (since 2008). Still, the Padres were on him. Or, just about.
They fouled off a whopping 30 pitches, the most by any team in the first four innings of a postseason game in the pitch tracking era. They even grabbed an early lead, with a pesky two-run rally in the second inning.
But they couldn’t quite break it open. Up 2-0, they loaded the bases in the second, but Manny Machado grounded out to end the frame. An inning later, Jackson Chourio’s two-run homer tied it. Nonetheless, by the top of the fifth inning, this was a battle of bullpens -- and on a night with Misiorowski starting, no less.
The Brewers would win that battle.
Fernando Tatis Jr. stranded runners on the corners in the eighth, striking out on three pitches from reliever Trevor Megill to leave the potential tying run on third.
In the ninth, Ty France lofted a fly ball down the left-field line that caromed off the roof cable and into the glove of Chourio in left field.
It was a chaotic sequence: France's drive had a 49-degree launch angle. Only 10 over-the-fence home runs in the Statcast era have had a launch angle at least that high, and there has never been a home run hit at American Family Field with a launch angle above 46 degrees.
The play was ruled an out after a replay review per American Family Field ground rules, denying France a potential go-ahead homer. Jackson Merrill then lined out to right field to seal Milwaukee’s Game 1 victory and cap a frustrating Division Series opener for the Padres.