MILWAUKEE – William Contreras didn’t have to hustle down the line on this one.
The Brewers were happy to watch him trot.
The All-Star catcher who was benched for failing to hustle during the final week of the regular season, playing for the team that won 103 games in the regular season while hitting the fewest home runs in the National League, showed that the start of the postseason means a clean slate when Contreras connected for a go-ahead solo shot in the seventh inning of the Brewers’ 3-2 win over the Padres in Game 1 of the NL Division Series on Saturday night at American Family Field.
With one on and one out in the top of the ninth inning, Ty France’s deep drive to left field hit the cables on the roof of the ballpark. Whether it was headed fair or foul? Impossible to tell. But there was at least a decent chance it would have left the yard.
Instead, the ball settled in the glove of left fielder Jackson Chourio and was ruled an out upon replay review. And a batter later, the Brewers had secured the win.
The Brewers got four shaky innings from ace starter Jacob Misiorowski and won anyway. They got a tying, two-run home run from Chourio off Padres starter Robbie Ray in the third inning that made Chourio, all of 22 years old, Milwaukee’s all-time leader with five postseason home runs. Then they got a go-ahead shot from Contreras off the Padres’ ace setup man, Adrian Morejon, a left-hander who yielded four home runs in 86 innings during the regular season.