Opening Day Brewers Highlights: Big Wins Milwaukee at Home

Since their first Opening Day in 1970, the Brewers have had four ‘blow-out’ victories (a game in which they scored more than 10 runs and won by at least eight). Here is a brief recap of that quartet of contests in which Milwaukee got the last laugh.

1978 (11-3 over Baltimore)
The 1978 season will be remembered as the genesis of the team that would come to be known as Bambi’s Bombers, after skipper George Bamberger, who was making his big-league managerial debut. The 1978 version won 90+ (93) games for the first time and four years after that would appear in the World Series for the first time. Paul Molitor also made his major league debut in this game, going 1-for-5 and getting his first big league hit, an RBI single off southpaw Mike Flanagan.

After a rainout the previous day, 47,824 fans came out on a sunny 60-degree day to see the new manager and the young phenom known as ‘Mollie.’ The fans got their money’s worth, and it started in the second inning as the Brewers scored three times, highlighted by a two-run double by Andy Etchebarren and the RBI single by Molitor. The Brewers made it 4-0 the next inning with an RBI single by Cecil Cooper. Two innings later, Larry Hisle hit a two-run blast to increase the lead to 6-0. Hisle, a free agent signed in the offseason, also had a double to cap off a 2-for-3 day in his Brewer debut. 

In the bottom of the seventh, Sixto Lezcano slammed a grand slam homer to increase the lead to 10-0. Don Money added an RBI groundout the next inning to account for the 11-0 score.

Meanwhile, left-handed Brewer starter Jerry Augustine had cruised through eight innings, allowing only six singles and a walk and was aided by his infield, who turned a trio of double plays in the first seven innings. The ninth inning was a different story, as ‘Augie’ got the first out and then gave up the following: home run, walk, single, single, walk. At that point, Eduardo Rodriguez came in and got the final two outs in the 11-3 victory.

1995 (12-3 over Chicago White Sox)
The season after the 1994 (and part of 1995) work stoppage saw only 31,426 fans attend the home opener, which was played on April 26. It was the smallest Opening Day crowd since 1973, when only 13,883 bothered to show up at County Stadium. The 1995 Brewers were in the midst of a 12-year drought in which the team failed to reach the .500 mark in any season.

The Brewers scored early and often against White Sox pitcher Alex Fernandez, a former first round pick of the Brewers in 1988, who chose not to sign with Milwaukee. Revenge came in the form of eight runs (four earned) on five hits and five walks in just 2.2 innings off the fruitless offerings of Fernandez. In what was becoming a recurring theme, John Jaha blasted a grand slam in the home opener in the first inning to make it 4-1. Milwaukee pitcher Ricky Bones gave up one run in the first as the home team held an 8-1 lead after three frames had been completed.

It was 8-2 when the Brewers tacked on a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, courtesy of RBI singles by Pat Listach and Darryl Hamilton in the fifth and a two-run jack by Turner Ward in the sixth. Chicago got a ‘too little, too late’ tally in the top of the eighth to end the scoring in the 12-3 win.

Listach went 3-for-3 in his return from an injury-plagued 1994 that saw his season end with surgery on his left knee. Bones was removed with one out in the fifth after issuing his fourth base on balls, leaving him just short of qualifying for the easy win. Angel Miranda and Mark Kiefer gave up a combined one run on two hits in the final 4.2 innings.

2008 (13-4 over San Francisco)
The spanking delivered by the Brewers over the Giants on Opening Day was a prelude to the year for Milwaukee, one in which they returned to the postseason for the first time since 1982. Milwaukee beat up three of the four Giants pitchers, beginning with three runs in the home first. Prince Fielder had an RBI single before getting knocked in by a Bill Hall home run that riled up the crowd of 45,212 at Miller Park.

The Brewers broke the contest wide open with five runs in the fifth inning. Gabe Kapler and Fielder each had RBI singles, but the big hit was a three-run home run by Hall, his second of the game to stretch the lead to 8-0. The Giants scored two runs in the top of the sixth off Brewers starter Carlos Villanueva, but Milwaukee quickly got it back with five more in the bottom half of the sixth. Jason Kendall and Fielder each had run-scoring doubles, while Kapler, Hall, and Corey Hart all had RBI singles to make the score 13-2.

Reliever Salomón Torres got roughed up by his former team for two runs in the seventh but persevered through the end of the game to notch the first of his 28 saves on the year, which would be the final of 12 campaigns for the diminutive righty reliever.

Rickie Weeks scored at least one run for the 17^th consecutive game, tying a National League record held by Rogers Hornsby (1921) and Ted Kluszewski (1954). His three runs, two hits, and a stolen base led Milwaukee, along with three hits each by Kapler, Fielder, and Hall, who also had six RBIs. Weeks’ streak would end the next day.

2023 (10-0 over New York Mets)
A crowd of 42,017 saw the fifth shutout in home Opening Day history, the only one in which Milwaukee scored 10 runs and won by a similar number. Freddy Peralta started for the Brewers and pitched six scoreless innings before being removed in favor of Bryse Wilson, who finished the whitewashing.

The game was scoreless as the Brewers came to bat in the bottom of the third. Brice Turang walked and then stole second. With two outs, Jesse Winker singled to score the first Brewers run. In the bottom of the fourth, Brian Anderson hit a two-run homer to make the score 3-0.

The Brewers scored a ‘touchdown’ in the fifth to put the game out of reach. Willy Adames and Anderson each had RBI singles, while William Contreras had an RBI groundout. Three batters later with the bases loaded, Turang smashed a grand slam to account for the final score. The home run was the first of Turang’s career. Turang had four RBIs while Anderson knocked home three.  

Peralta earned the victory while allowing two hits and three walks while striking out seven batters. Wilson got the three inning save, giving up one hit and three walks while whiffing a pair of Mets.

The Brewers would shut out the Mets 9-0 the following night, led by Anderson’s two home runs and six RBIs.  

Grand Slams Galore
The Brewers have hit five grand slams in home openers. Sixto Lezcano had two of them in a three-year span, including a walk-off in a 9-5 win over Boston in 1980. Catcher Mike Matheny hit a granny in a 5-3 win over Texas in 1997.

The complete list:

• Sixto Lezcano, 1978
• Sixto Lezcano, 1980 (walkoff)
• John Jaha, 1995
• Mike Matheny, 1997
• Brice Turang, 2023

Opening Day Excitement
Opening Day is the day that baseball fans live for. It signals the end of winter and the beginning of baseball. In the jam-packed parking lots at Miller Park (AmFam Field), grills are fired up, the beer is flowing, kids are playing catch, and the atmosphere gets cranked up in anticipation of the first game of baseball since the previous October.

PLAY BALL!

Are you interested in Brewers history? Then check out the Milwaukee Brewers Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Brewers uniform!