Opening Day Brewers Highlights: Best Wins At Home

[Michael Trzinski]

The last three days, you read about blowouts, slugfests, and pitching duels. Today’s piece will help you relive some of the best Opening Day wins in Brewers history. Enjoy!

Image courtesy of Mike McGinnis/Sports Illustrated

1971 (4-3 win over California)
The Brewers were just in their second season and had returned from a two-game split in Minnesota. The Brewers welcomed 40,566 to County Stadium on the day before Easter, with temperatures in the mid-50s. The attendance figure was by far the largest of the season, as the next largest crowd weighed in at just under 29,000 fans in late July against the Yankees. The Brewers were looking for payback against the Angels, who had shut out the Brewers 12-0 the year before in the home opener.

The Angels loaded the bases in the first inning before Milwaukee hurler Skip Lockwood struck out Ken McMullen to end the threat. Milwaukee has runners at the corner with one out in the bottom of the third, but California’s Clyde Wright got a popup and flyball to end the inning.

The Angels scored in the top of the fourth when first baseman Jim Spencer hit a solo shot to right field to make it 1-0. The Brewers came back in the bottom half when Dave May was hit by a pitch and then stole second, advancing to third on a throwing error by catcher Jerry Moses. Two batters later, Danny Walton hit a line drive that cleared the left field wall and giving the Brewers a 2-1 lead. Walton, who was recovering from the flu, said, “I feel real good now. I don’t think the flu hurt my hitting.”

California tied the score in the top of the sixth. Spencer reached on a fielder’s choice and moved to second when McMullen drew a two-out walk. Lockwood threw a breaking pitch that Moses swung at and missed for what should have been the third out, but the ball hit the corner of the plate and bounced toward the third base dugout. Before catcher Ellie Rodríguez or third sacker Tommy Harper could retrieve the ball, Spencer scored from second to knot the score at two apiece.

The Brewers took the lead in the bottom half of the seventh. Roberto Peña roped a double to center field and scored on a single to center by Rodríguez. The Angels came back in the guest half of the next inning to tie the game at three. Tony Conigliaro led off with a two-base hit to left, ending Lockwood’s day. Manager Dave Bristol brought in veteran left-hander Marcelino López to put out the fire. Conigliaro stole third and then had to hold on Spencer’s shallow fly to right. McMullen then hit a fly to deep left and ‘Tony C’ scored easily to even the score.

Milwaukee loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth with one out against Wright, who was then removed in favor of righty Mel Queen. Bill Voss pinch-hit for Ted Savage but struck out looking. Queen walked Peña on a 3-2 pitch, scoring Harper to give the Brew Crew a 4-3 lead.

López retired the Angels in order on two strikeouts and a ground put to get the 4-3 win.

Lockwood went seven innings, allowing six hits, three runs, and three walks while striking out four. Wright’s numbers were similar, with 7.1 innings, six hits, four runs, and three walks.

1980 (9-5 win over Boston)
A crowd of 53,313 came out to County Stadium on a crisp 43-degree day to watch the Brewers take on the Boston Red Sox. The Brewers won 95 games the year before, finishing eight games behind AL East champ Baltimore. The fans wanted to see if the team was for real.

It wasn’t looking good for the home team as the Red Sox took a 3-0 lead through three innings. Butch Hobson knocked in Carl Yastrzemski in the second with a single off Milwaukee starter Jim Slaton. In the third, Jim Rice and ‘Yaz’ had back-to-back RBI singles to give Boston a three-run lead.

‘Bambi’s Bombers’ came to life in the bottom of the fourth. After two quick outs, Ben Oglivie took a 1-2 pitch from Boston’s Dennis Eckersley into the right field bullpen to cut the lead to 3-1. Gorman Thomas then walked and on the first pitch from Eckersley, Sixto Lezcano slammed a two-run homer to left field to tie the game.

In the bottom of the fifth, Paul Molitor hit a solo shot to make it 4-3, Brewers. After Cecil Cooper doubled, Eckersley was removed in favor of Steve Renko. The Red Sox pitcher got out of a bases loaded jam but wouldn’t be so lucky in the sixth. Don Money led off with a home run and the Brewers took a 5-3 lead into the top of the ninth.

Yaz led off the ninth with a solo blast and one out later, Hobson teed off on Slaton to tie the game at five. Reggie Cleveland came in and got the final two outs of the inning. Dick Drago came in to face Milwaukee in the bottom of the ninth and gave up an opposite field single to Molitor. Playing for one run, Cooper bunted Molitor to second. It was the first of seven sacrifice bunts for Cooper in 1980. Dick Davis fouled to first for the second out. Drago loaded the bases on an intentional walk to Oglivie and an unintentional walk to Thomas.

With the sacks jammed, Lezcano swung at the first pitch from Drago and hit a rising line drive that ended up in the right field bullpen. Bedlam reigned at County Stadium as Lezcano rounded the bases after his walk-off ‘grand salami.’ After he reached the dugout, Lezcano paused to watch the replay on the scoreboard and then tipped his hat to the roaring crowd.

Bob Uecker’s call on the home run?

“Here’s a drive to deep right-center, way back goes Evans, it’s got a chance to go — GONE! Hey, a grand-slam home run for Lezcano, Oh! What a finish here at County Stadium! Can you believe this today? Lezcano with his second home run of the ballgame, a grand slammer here in the bottom of the ninth. And the Brewers have won this game by a score of 9-5.”

Amen, Brother Bob!!

2001 (5-4 win over Cincinnati)
President George W. Bush was there. I was there, part of the Opening Day crowd of 42,024 that filled brand spanking new Miller Park. And most importantly, Richie Sexson was there.

It didn’t matter that the temperature was in the high 40s with a threat of rain that April 7 evening. Inside the closed roof stadium, the weather was nice. After President Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch (one-hopper to the LH batter’s box), the game began.

The game was scoreless for three innings as Jeff D’Amico and Reds hurler Rob Bell allowed only a combined three baserunners in the first third of the game. In the top of the fourth, Barry Larkin singled before Michael Tucker hit the first HR in Miller Park history, a shot to right field that made the score 2-0 in favor of the visitors. In the bottom half, José Hernández smoked a three-run double to right-center to score Tyler Houston, Jeromy Burnitz, and Jeffrey Hammonds to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, Burnitz hit the first Brewers HR in Miller Park history off reliever Scott Sullivan to increase the lead to 4-2. D’Amico ran out of gas in the seventh as he gave up a leadoff homer to Dmitri Young and after a single to ‘The Mayor,’ Sean Casey, was removed for reliever Mike DeJean. The Brewers pitcher gave up an RBI single to Aaron Boone before getting out of the inning.

The score was 4-4 when Sexson came up with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning and slammed a home run to left off Dennys Reyes to give the Brewers a 5-4 lead. The blast traveled an estimated 435 feet to left center over the Brewers bullpen.

David Weathers came in and pitched a perfect ninth for the save and the first Miller Park win for Milwaukee.

“I’m not seeing the ball very good right now,” Sexson said afterwards. “I had a very good spring, but then I’ve been struggling this week and I’m just trying to get it back again.”

Don’t worry, Richie, you did just fine.

2009 (4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs)
The Cubs and the Brewers met one other time in a Milwaukee home opener. Before the second largest County Stadium Opening Day crowd (55,770), the Brewers took a 9-4 beating at the paws of the Cubs in the second-to-last home opener at that venerable park.

The Brewers had made their first playoff appearance in 26 years the previous October and were looking forward to continuing that success. The Brewers started quickly with an RBI single by Ryan Braun that scored Rickie Weeks for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first off Cubs pitcher Rich Harden. Corey Hart extended the lead to 2-0 with his two-out home run in the bottom of the third.

Milton Bradley (the ballplayer, not the game company) got the Cubs on the board with a leadoff homer in the top of the fourth off Braden Looper. The score stayed at 2-1 until the top of the sixth. Seth McClung had come in to replace Looper and got quick flyball outs before giving up a single to Ryan Theriot. One batter later, Koyie Hill blasted a two-run shot to give the Cubbies a 3-2 lead.

The Brewers had traffic on the bases in the seventh off three Cubs relievers, but Braun flew out to short right with the bases loaded to end the threat. In the top of the eighth, Brewers reliever Todd Coffey got out of a first-and-third jam with a 6-4-3 DP to keep the deficit at one run.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Brewers had Prince Fielder in scoring position at second, but Bill Hall struck out to end the inning. Carlos Villanueva pitched a perfect ninth for Milwaukee to set the stage for a Brewers rally.

Closer Kevin Gregg, who had gotten the Hall strikeout in the eighth, started by getting Jason Kendall to ground out. Defensive replacement Chris Duffy drew a one-out walk and scored when Weeks lined a ball over left fielder Alfonso Soriano for a two-base hit to tie the game at three. Gregg wild-pitched Weeks to third before walking Hart to put runners at first and third. That brought the Cubs infield in and Braun to the plate. On a 1-2 pitch, Braun hit a grounder to shortstop Theriot, who fired home in an attempt to get Weeks, whose left hand snuck across the plate just before the tag by the catcher.

“Luckily I just had a good jump and could get in there safely,” Weeks said.    

2013 (5-4 win over Colorado)
The year ended in ‘13’ and the game was played on April Fool’s Day, but the Brewers luckily got the last laugh in a 5-4 win.

The game was scoreless until the third inning when Troy Tulowitzki hit a two-run shot off Yovani Gallardo that scored Carlos González to give the Rockies an early 2-0 lead. Nori Aoki cut the lead to 2-1 with a solo shot off Jhoulys Chacín in the home half of the third. González slammed a leadoff homer off Gallardo in the top of the fifth to make it 3-1, Colorado.

The Brewers began their comeback in the bottom of the eighth. With runners on third and first with one out, Braun hit a ball to deep short that became an infield single and scored Aoki from third, moving Weeks to second. Aramis Ramírez knocked in both runners with a double down the left field line to make it 4-3 in favor of the good guys. Birthday boy closer John Axford struck out the first two batters to bring the Miller Park crowd to its feet. The next batter, Dexter Fowler, sent a first pitch fast ball to deep right, silencing the crowd and tying the score at four.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Axford said after the game. “I felt great out there. It was just the one (pitch) and that’s the way I’ve got to look at it.”

The Brewers had a runner on first in the bottom of the ninth but couldn’t score. Jim Henderson put down the Rockies in order in the tenth, bringing the Brewers up for an extra-inning shot.

Aoki struck out before Weeks was hit by a pitch and stole second. Braun was intentionally walked and then Ramírez drew a free pass, loading the bases. Jonathan sent the crowd home happy with a walk-off sac fly to center field, scoring Weeks for the 5-4 win.

2021 (6-5 win over Minnesota)
After playing in empty stadiums in 2020 due to Covid, the Brewers were able to bring fans into Miller Park in 2021. Milwaukee County allowed 25% of capacity, which meant 11,740 fans spread out in the stadium and watched a close game in which the Brewers were victorious.

The Twins opened the scoring with two runs in the top of the third when Jake Cave scored on a Brandon Woodruff wild pitch, and in the same at-bat, Max Kepler knocked in Miguel Sanó with an RBI single. The Brewers responded in the home half when Travis Shaw drew a bases loaded walk off Kenta Maeda to score Kolten Wong to cut the lead to 2-1. Luis Arráez singled home Andrelton Simmons to increase the lead to 3-1 in the top of the fourth.

Omar Narváez singled to left to score Christian Yelich to make it 3-2, but Shaw was thrown out trying to score from second by Cave. In the top of the seventh Byron Buxton hit a two-run homer, scoring Kepler, to make the score 5-2.

Trailing by three going into the bottom of the ninth, the Brewers had their work cut out for them. Wong was hit by a pitch and then Keston Hiura reached on an error by pitcher Alex Colomé to put runners on first and second. Yelich hit a line drive to right that Kepler was unable to handle, scoring Wong and moving Hiura to second. Avisaíl García grounded out, moving up both runners. Shaw then tied the score with a double to left.

Josh Hader started the top of the 10^th with Simmons the ‘ghost runner’ on second. With one out, Hader threw a wild pitch to allow Simmons to move up 90 feet by struck out Arráez and Cave to retire the side.

Lorenzo Cain was the Brewers ghost runner in the bottom of the 10^th and Randy Dobnak took the mound for Minnesota. Narváez singled to right, but Cain could only make it to third. Orlando Arcia tapped a grounder to second and Cain beat the throw home for the winning run.

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I hope you enjoyed the four-part series on Opening Day highlights. Please feel free to comment with your own favorite Opening Day memories!

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[Brian]

Opening Day Texas LOL. 

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