Clutch Slug: Jackson Chourio, William Contreras Come Up Huge for Brewers in Game 1 Win

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It's not just their production. The effusive intensity matters, too. Jackson Chourio and William Contreras savor big hits like few other players in the game, and their energy not only inspires their teammates, but intimidates opponents, even in advance. Their will to come up with the big hit against you radiates off them like heat; it spooks people into making the mistakes the two can turn into game-breaking hits.

That didn't take long to show up in Game 1 of the NLDS Saturday night—though it took long enough to let Brewers fans sweat a little bit, anyway. Milwaukee fell behind 2-0 in a frustrating second-inning sequence that saw the Padres spoil some good pitches from Jacob Misiorowski; Misiorowski give them too many looks at his secondary stuff; and the defense behind him let the ace down. Thus, when they got their turn in the bottom of the third, they were working their way out of a hole. This was not your average Game 1. Its series leverage was much higher than for most openers in a best-of-5. The Brewers needed a break, and it couldn't wait.

Thankfully, one came quickly. Garrett Mitchell got jammed as few players have ever been, fighting off a 93-mile-per-hour sinker that got deep enough in his kitchen to find his secret stash of chocolate. The resulting floater was hit so softly that shortstop Xander Bogaerts couldn't make the play on Mitchell, giving the Crew a leadoff infield single. Joey Ortiz grounded out, but Mitchell advanced to second on the play.

That brought Jackson Chourio to the plate for the second time. In his first trip, against Padres starter Robbie Ray, he had worked a five-pitch at-bat, but he hit a harmless fly ball the other way on a sinker on the outer edge. That was the bad news. The good news was, in those five pitches, he'd seen Ray throw the sinker four times. He had an inkling—a hunch—that Ray might start him with a slider the second time. That was enough.

Chourio had never before hit a home run at even 111 miles per hour, in terms of exit velocity. This ball screamed off his bat at 113.3 MPH. He dropped the bat head on, sure enough, a slider, which had plenty of the zone but was directionally in the right location. Ray was trying to get ahead of him. Big mistake; huge.

The first time he saw a pitcher in a game this season, Chourio swung at the first pitch just 18.1% of the time. Thereafter, that rate more than doubled, to 37.7%. He went from markedly below-average in first-pitch aggressiveness to markedly above-average, beginning the second time he saw a pitcher in a given game. Maybe the Padres didn't get the memo, or maybe they thought Chourio would be a bit hesitant in the pressure of a playoff tilt, especially with his team already trailing. Either way, they were extremely wrong.

Chourio's rocket of a homer restored scoreboard parity, which held for a long time. The next real turning point in the game, arguably, came in the top of the fifth inning. With Misiorowski out of the fray after just four innings, Antonio Senzatela allowed a dribbler toward first off the bat of Padres left fielder Dustin Harris. He couldn't handle Jake Bauers's flip to the base, though, and Harris reached on an unlikely infield single. That could have been the spark that became a game-winning fire for the visitors. Instead, Harris took off for second base during the ensuing at-bat—and Contreras threw him out.

Everything about this throw was gorgeous. Contreras's exchange and footwork were lethally quick, but the accuracy of his peg to Brice Turang was the difference. It left no chance of any mistakes. That throw might have saved the Brewers' bacon, because Senzatela got into further trouble in the frame, before Pat Murphy could get Aaron Ashby warm and into the contest. Slowing down the onslaught allowed the Brewers to avoid damage.

Contreras's biggest contribution was to come later, though, of course. He came up in the bottom of the seventh with the score still tied, two outs, and nobody on. The Padres, like the Brewers, had plunged into the deep end of their elite bullpen, and Adrian Morejon had gotten two easy outs to start the inning. Contreras would be the opposite of that.

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If the Padres stay at the Pfister Hotel Saturday night in Milwaukee, the rumors of that place being haunted will finally be true, because Morejon is likely to have wrestling matches with his demons and shouting matches with his pillow, rather than sleeping. His signature pitch is the changeup, but in a six-pitch sequence, he threw just one to Contreras, and it was a bad one. He fell behind 2-0, and then 3-1, and he couldn't summon the confidence in that changeup to throw it to Contreras and risk the walk. He should have; he unequivocally should have. With two outs and the bases empty, a walk is not damaging enough to risk giving up a long hit in order to avoid it. If one of San Diego's two more seasoned catchers had been behind the plate at that moment, perhaps they'd have called for at least one more changeup. Ethan Salas is just 20 years old, though, and he defaulted to Morejon's fastball, a sinker, on 3-1. Contreras fouled it off. On 3-2, Salas called for the same pitch. Morejon hit the outside edge, too. Against a hitter who was geared up to pull the ball, that pitch and that location are a good enough combination to get the final out of the inning. Contreras, though, is as smart a hitter as he is talented. He stayed closed. He looked to drive it the other way. The pitch he got was perfect for that approach.

It often looks simple. Chourio and Contreras can be easy to mistake for mistake hitters, playing baseball at full speed and intensity but relying on raw talent to thrive. That couldn't be further from true. As Chourio's third-inning ambush reflected his strategically evolving approach throughout a game, Contreras's homer reflected the way he waits and anticipates and adapts to situation and opponent. Just as Contreras's throw in the fifth was a reminder of how well he's honed his craft as a controller of the running game, Chourio's adjustment to catch Ty France's roof-scraping flyout in the top of the ninth reflected his evolution into the best defensive left fielder in the National League.

Chourio and Contreras started this baseball year by winning the World Baseball Classic for their native Venezuela. Their intensity, their genius and (yes) their talent are exactly what the Brewers need to finish the year with a World Series title. The first game of the Crew's postseason run underscored that beautifully.