Brewers edge Padres 3-2 in NLDS opener that features bizarre play in 9th inning

MILWAUKEE — William Contreras hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning and the Milwaukee Brewers hung on to beat San Diego 3-2 in their NL Division Series opener Saturday night after a potential go-ahead homer by the Padres' Ty France hit the American Family Field roof and landed in outfielder Jackson Chourio's glove for an out.

San Diego had a runner on first with one out in the ninth inning when France hit a towering flyball that struck a cable on the roof before Chourio caught it in fair territory on the left-field warning track.

Under the stadium's ground rules, any batted ball striking the roof or one of its cables in fair territory is a fair ball that can be caught for an out, so Chourio's catch retired France. The Padres unsuccessfully challenged that France's drive was a foul ball.

“We joked about it at the umpire meeting today about what would happen if the ball hit the roof. And it was unlikely, but it happened,” San Diego manager Craig Stammen said. “Unfortunately, a bad break for us. Looked like it was a possible home run. Just didn’t go our way.”

France's drive left his bat at 105.3 mph with a 49-degree launch angle. It was caught 325 feet from home plate.

Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy thought the ball would have hooked foul if it didn't ricochet off the roof.

“It was going to be a foul ball, for sure. I’m standing right on that line,” Murphy said. “A hitter that talented, they would have liked to have that hitter back up there with another strike.”

Jackson Merrill then lined out to right to end the game.

Chourio also hit a two-run homer as the Brewers won for the 16th time in 19 games. San Diego lost for only the fourth time in its last 24 outings despite chasing Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski after four innings.

The best-of-five series continues Sunday with a Game 2 pitching matchup featuring San Diego’s Michael King (12-10, 3.21 ERA) and Milwaukee’s Logan Henderson (11-3, 2.47).

Contreras had gone just 1 for 20 against the Padres this season before delivering the biggest hit of the game on a 3-2 pitch from Adrian Morejon. As his 406-foot shot cleared the wall in right-center field, the three-time All-Star turned to face Milwaukee’s dugout and celebrate in front of teammates on his way to first base.

Contreras joined Boston’s Willson Contreras to become the fifth set of brothers to homer in the same postseason, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The others are Ken and Clete Boyer (1964), Sandy Jr. and Roberto Alomar (1997), Stephen and J.D. Drew (2007) and Bo and Josh Naylor (2025). Willson Contreras homered in Game 2 of Boston's AL Wild Card Series loss to the New York Yankees.

Brewers win with different approach

The Brewers scored all their runs on homers. That's an unusual occurrence for a team that scored the second-most runs (832) in the majors during the regular season despite matching the second-lowest homer total (154).

“I like it that we won that way,” Contreras said. “Obviously there’s a lot of people in the public opinion that think that we’re not able to connect with the big hits, with the homers. I like that today that’s how the game shook out and we were able to win like that.”

San Diego wasted scoring opportunities all night, particularly late in the game. The Padres left 12 men on base and went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position.

The Padres loaded the bases in the seventh against Abner Uribe before DL Hall retired Merrill on a fly to left to end the threat.

San Diego also put runners on first and second with one out in the eighth after Hall issued a pair of walks, but the Padres again failed to capitalize. Austin Hays hit a fly to right against Hall that advanced pinch-runner Samad Taylor to third, then Trevor Megill struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. on three pitches to strand runners on the corners.

Megill then worked around a leadoff single by Dustin Harris in the ninth to pick up the save while getting a major assist from the roof.

“Megill was masterful,” Murphy said. “All five relievers did a heck of a job.”

Padres' approach leads to short outing for Misiorowski

Milwaukee won a franchise-record 103 games to earn home-field advantage throughout the postseason. Misiorowski played a big role in that success by posting a 1.80 ERA, striking out 252 batters and limiting hitters to a .157 batting average to lead the major leagues in all three categories.

Misiorowski opened his first playoff start by throwing a 104.8 mph strike to Tatis, the fastest postseason pitch since tracking began in 2008.

But the 6-foot-7 right-hander left the game earlier than usual as the Padres fouled off 30 of his 88 pitches — 31 if you count Xander Bogaerts' popup that was caught in foul territory.

“His (velocity) dropped 5 mph almost in the second inning. He wasn’t in sync,” Murphy said.

San Diego took a 2-0 lead against Misiorowski in the second.

Bogaerts, Ethan Salas and Luis Campusano hit consecutive one-out singles, with Campusano’s base hit to right driving in Bogaerts. Jake Cronenworth then hit a broken-bat grounder, and first baseman Jake Bauers was unable to throw out Salas at the plate.

San Diego could have done even more damage, but Manny Machado grounded out to leave the bases loaded.

The Brewers responded in the third thanks to Chourio, who already has established himself as one of the game’s top playoff performers at age 22.

“He’s a beautiful spirit. He’s gifted mentally. He’s smiling every day and nothing gets him down. You never see Jack-Jack down,” Murphy said.

With a runner on second, Chourio sent a 420-foot drive over the wall in left-center for his franchise-record fifth postseason homer in his 13th playoff game. Chourio had shared the mark with Prince Fielder and Orlando Arcia.

According to MLB.com, the only other players to hit five playoff homers before their 23rd birthday are Kyle Schwarber and Juan Soto.