MILWAUKEE — Jackson Chourio delivered the moment every kid dreams about, ripping a two-out, two-strike walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Milwaukee Brewers to a 4-3 win over the San Diego Padres in Game 2 in Milwaukee and a 2-0 lead in the series.
With the bases loaded and two strikes against the Padres' closer, Chourio lined a 109.5 MPH ball back up the middle past the diving glove of Jake Cronenworth. Christian Yelich scored easily from third, Jackson Merrill fielded the ball cleanly in center and fired home as Sal Frelick was waved around, but the throw was wide and Freddy Fermin couldn't handle it cleanly. Frelick would have been safe regardless as pandemonium erupted.
Milwaukee had trailed for most of the night despite solid work from Logan Henderson, who retired eight straight after allowing a first-inning run on a Ty France opposite-field single following a Manny Machado walk and wild pitch. San Diego starter Michael King was cruising, retiring the first 14 batters he faced with four perfect innings before Yelich doubled into the right-field corner with two outs in the fifth. Xander Bogaerts executed a deke with a fake tag to hold Yelich at second after Fernando Tatis Jr. bobbled the ball, but Yelich still scored on Sal Frelick's 0-1 single to make it 2-1. Cooper Pratt followed with a single before David Hamilton popped out to end the threat.
Defense loomed large. In the fifth, Brice Turang missed an easy double-play ball up the middle for an error that put runners at the corners, and Pratt's relay to first on the next play was short and couldn't be picked for another error as a second run scored for a 2-0 Padres lead. In the seventh, a fielding error by David Hamilton allowed Tatis to reach, a walk to Machado by Abner Uribe set up another Ty France RBI single to make it 3-1, though Frelick gunned down Machado trying to take third to end the inning. Milwaukee answered in the bottom half when Garrett Mitchell led off with a single, Yelich was robbed of extra bases by a leaping grab from Merrill in left-center, and a walk to Frelick and fielder's choice by Pratt set up Hamilton's dribbler to second that Cronenworth bobbled and threw into the dugout, allowing Mitchell to score to cut it to 3-2 before Chourio grounded out to short with runners on second and third.
The ninth-inning rally started with a walk by Yelich and a stolen base, followed by a walk to Frelick. Manager Pat Murphy turned to his bench, with Andrew Vaughn pinch-hitting and flying out to center before Gary Sanchez worked a full count and drew a walk to load the bases for Chourio. "He's, I think, turning into a bona fide, top-flight player. Couldn't be happier for him because he brings it every day," Pat Murphy said. "He loves those moments. And he knows how talented he is and what he can do on a baseball field. He can do anything. So when he comes up in that situation, just with everything that's going on in that inning, you just feel good about it," Christian Yelich said. Milwaukee now heads to San Diego in command after a game it could have easily lost.