Garrett Mitchell gave Milwaukee the kind of October night that travels well: a run-scoring single, a fifth-inning triple that became the winning run, and then a calm retreat to the right-center wall to take extra bases away from Manny Machado. The Brewers beat the San Diego Padres 3-1 on Wednesday, closing out the National League Division Series in four games and earning a second straight trip to the NLCS.
For a club that won 103 games and survived four games decided by a total of five runs, the formula looked familiar. Milwaukee received sharp pitching, made the plays that had to be made, collected 10 hits and scratched out just enough offense. The victory also ended a 12-game postseason road skid that had stretched back to 2018.
Milwaukee builds a narrow lead
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Sal Frelick started the Brewers’ third inning with an infield hit, stole second and scored when Mitchell singled. Mitchell, an Orange County native who played at UCLA, put Milwaukee on the board first.
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Robert Gasser, a former Padres draft selection, held San Diego to three hits over four innings. Fernando Tatis Jr. got to him in the third, however, ending a 1-for-19 postseason spell with a 429-foot homer to center. It was the longest postseason home run by a San Diego player at Petco Park.
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Padres starter Walker Buehler had permitted only three hits and one run when Craig Stammen turned to Robbie Ray, San Diego’s Game 1 starter, after William Contreras opened the fourth with a single.
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Mitchell led off the fifth by sending a soft drive over first base and into the right-field corner for a triple. Jackson Chourio followed with a single through the drawn-in infield, bringing Mitchell home for a 2-1 lead.
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Jake Bauers opened the sixth with a single, moved to third on Cooper Pratt’s ground-rule double and scored on Frelick’s sacrifice fly. That gave Milwaukee its final run.
Chourio adds another October mark
Chourio’s fifth-inning hit carried more than the go-ahead run. The 22-year-old passed Ryan Braun to become the Brewers’ all-time postseason RBI leader. He has driven in 17 runs across 16 playoff games, with six RBIs in this Division Series.
Milwaukee’s pitching staff limited the Padres to three hits overall, but the eighth inning still carried the game’s biggest defensive moment. Abner Uribe faced Machado with the tying run a swing away, and Machado drove a ball estimated at 406 feet toward the right-center wall. Mitchell tracked it cleanly, reached above the short fence and brought it back.
Brice Turang followed that play by ranging into foul territory for a difficult, tumbling catch on Ty France’s popup, ending the inning and San Diego’s best late threat.
The Padres had also loaded the bases against Mason Miller in the seventh without scoring. Miller, San Diego’s high-profile closer, returned after missing Game 3 for the birth of his first child.
Padres’ surge ends short of the NLCS
San Diego had forced a Game 4 by avoiding elimination the night before, and its late-season charge made this series far tighter than the final result might suggest. The Padres were under .500 and 11th in the National League as late as July, then climbed into the first Wild Card position, swept the Chicago Cubs in the Wild Card Series and won 19 of 22 games before Milwaukee took three of four.
Tatis’ long home run provided the lone breakthrough in a quiet offensive evening. The Padres came up short of what would have been only the fourth NLCS berth in franchise history.
Dodgers await at American Family Field
Milwaukee now returns home for an NLCS rematch with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who eliminated Atlanta on Wednesday. The Dodgers swept the Brewers in last year’s postseason on their way to a second consecutive World Series championship.
Game 1 is set for Sunday in Milwaukee, where Jacob Misiorowski appears lined up to take the ball. The Brewers are four wins from the second World Series appearance in club history.
