Chourio, Contreras lift Brewers to gritty Game 1 World Series win over Rays

After all the pomp and circumstance, after all the anticipation, the Milwaukee Brewers finally hosted a World Series game for the first time in 44 years, and my goodness did it live up to the hype with a 3-2 Brewers victory.

In the first inning, Jacob Misiorowski ran into a little bit of trouble, allowing singles to Jonathan Aranda and Chandler Simpson. The Rays had two on and one out with a big time threat in Junior Caminero at the plate. Caminero ripped a line drive, but it was right at third baseman David Hamilton, who easily caught it and doubled off Aranda at second base.

The crowd erupted on that play and they were able to erupt again in the bottom half of the first. Multiple times.

Jackson Chourio swung at the first pitch he saw from Rays starter Nick Martinez and lined a single to right field. The captain, Christian Yelich, then crushed an 0-2 cutter on the inside corner into the gap in right-center.

Jonny DeLuca came oh-so-close to running that down and making an incredible catch, but he just couldn’t hold on to it. It goes as a triple for Yelich and it gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead.

“It got in on me a little bit, I could kinda tell I backspun it, so it’s not really like hooking or it’s not really diving, so you know it’s gonna kind of hang up there a little bit. Was just hoping that it was fan enough away from him to get down and fortunately it did.” Yelich said.

With Yelich on third, the Rays infield was drawn in for William Contreras. And he took advantage.

Very quickly, the Brewers established a lead for Misiorowski and got to Martinez before he was able to settle into the game.

After that, though, the Brewers offense struggled for a few innings, going three-up and three-down in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings.

Meanwhile, the Rays were able to get some traffic against Misiorowski in the 4th. A leadoff walk to Aranda was followed by a scorching double to center just off the outstretched glove off Garrett Mitchell. The ball left the bat at 112.7 MPH. That led to 2nd and 3rd for the Rays and Liam Hicks cashed a run in with a groundout to first on a slow roller.

The Rays had some more traffic in the 5th and 6th innings. They were 11-for-11 on stolen bases in the first two rounds of the postseason. But they hadn’t yet faced William Contreras. Contreras gunned down Victor Mesa Jr at 3rd base in the 5th and then completed a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play to end the 6th inning.

Contreras literally could not have walked the baseball down there and handed it to Hamilton in a more perfect spot than he did on that throw in the 5th.

It was a 2-1 ballgame after that, typical of the Brewers this postseason. A close, intense matchup, battling out long at-bats and grinding your way through.

The Brewers finally broke through again in the 7th inning. Cooper Pratt got things started with a leadoff walk. Sal Frelick then flew out and David Hamilton grounded out, but the grounder allowed Pratt to reach second base. That would prove important for the two out rally as the Brewers had their most clutch hitter due up in Jackson Chourio.

Chourio has said he was born for those moments. Once again, he proved that he was.

Swinging at the first pitch, Chourio delivered a single past a diving Jonathan Aranda that brought home Pratt and made it a 3-1 Brewers lead.

“The way I’ve always looked at it is it’s important to start with a good foot ahead. So if I have the opportunity to do that, I’m going to take advantage.” Chourio said.

“He’s special. He’s got special ability to compete at the big time. He’s poised. The last AB is the last AB. He’s ready every time. The kid is continuing to do this (indicating up), and it’s scary.” Pat Murphy said.

The Brewers bullpen was once again spectacular. Abner Uribe went 1.1 scoreless IP. He turned it over to Aaron Ashby, who again, delivered a perfect outing, retiring each of the five batters he faced and striking out three of them. Then it was on to Trevor Megill to close things out in the 9th.

Megill retired Yandy Diaz on a grounder to third. Jonathan Aranda reached base for the fourth time with a single to left. Then Chandler Simpson lined a single to center and Junior Caminero drew a walk. That loaded the bases for Liam Hicks.

Hicks hit a grounder to Turang’s left, forcing a tough turn and fire to second base to attempt the double play. Initially, it was a double play, the game was over, the fireworks went off, the TV postgame show set was being wheeled onto the field, fire up Glory Days, it’s a big Brewers win.

But hold on. Hold everything. The Rays challenge and upon review, Cooper Pratt’s foot left second base just a little bit early. That meant the Brewers had to lock back in, there was still one more out to get. A run had scored, so it was a 3-2 Brewers lead now. Tying run is on third, the go-ahead run is on second.

Megill, unphased, comes back to strike out Jonny DeLuca to end this game for good this time.

“Just freaking get after it. Gotta go for a strikeout there.” Megill said on his mentality after the overturn.

The Brewers got four impressive innings from their bullpen in support of Jacob Misiorowski. Misiorowski hasn’t had the strikeout stuff he had during the regular season, tallying just three punchouts in his five innings. But he still kept barrels off the ball, and he kept the lead for the Brewers and the bullpen to hold.

Yelich struck first, Contreras added on, and Chourio came through with what ended up being the winning run in front of a crowd of 43,250.

The Brewers have taken a 1-0 series lead over the Rays. They are three wins away from immortality. Logan Henderson gets the start for Game 2 while the Rays will have Drew Rasmussen.