Saturday night was a rainy one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which forced the Milwaukee Brewers to close the roof at American Family Field for Game 1 of the NLDS against the San Diego Padres. Little did everyone know that the roof will end up playing a part in Milwaukee's victory. With the Brewers up by just one run, 3-2, in the top of the ninth inning, Ty France hit a baseball hard high up in the air with one man standing on first base.
The quality of contact made it seem as though the ball had a chance to leave the yard, which would have given the Padres a 4-3 lead with just one out in the ninth. Alas, France's fly ball ended up hitting the roof of the park and fell straight to Jackson Chourio's glove. This was then ruled as an out — stopping San Diego's rally at its tracks as the Brewers held on for a 3-2 win.
This call was controversial on social media, but the ground rules state that the ball is live even if it hits the roof. Credit goes to Chourio for making the catch for the second out of the inning, preserving the lead for the Brewers. It seemed like this moment was written in the stars, as third-base coach Matt Erickson revealed that umpire Nic Lentz discussed the ground rule for that specific scenario, which ended up mattering.
Article Continues Below“He gets through [explaining] the whole thing, and I looked at everybody and said, ‘I haven't seen it in six years, but it's definitely happening tonight. And they all started laughing. It's unbelievable,” Erickson said, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN.
Fortune continues to shine kindly upon the Brewers. They were also down 3-2 on Sunday in Game 2 of the NLDS, but this time, Chourio hit a two-run walk-off single to give Milwaukee a 2-0 series lead — which some believe is a death sentence for the Padres.
But the Padres won 51 of their 91 games this year at home, so the Brewers should know that nothing is a cakewalk even though they have a commanding lead in the NLDS.