MILWAUKEE — Adrian Morejón’s head dropped as he bent over his knees on the mound. He does not give up home runs. The Brewers don’t hit all that many.
It was not the strangest thing that occurred on Saturday night at American Family Field, but it was close.
William Contreras’ solo homer off the Padres’ prized left-hander was the difference in a 3-2 loss that began with the Padres stealing a page out of the contact-happy Brewers’ playbook.
Three straight singles and another ball in play off the bat of Jake Cronenworth allowed the Padres to strike first with a two-run second off presumptive NL Cy Young-winner Jacob Misiorowski.
Jackson Chourio’s two-run homer in the third erased that lead. Then in the seventh, Contreras’ 406-foot homer to right-center on a full-count, 100 mph sinker on the outside corner gave the Brewers their first and only lead of Game 1 of the National League Division Series.
“Yeah, I feel like it was still a good pitch regardless,” Morejón said through interpreter Jorge Merlos. “I think he just put a good swing on it, on that pitch. I felt like I executed the pitch correctly, but you know, I obviously have the velocity there, and all he has to do is swing at it. And he was just better in that situation right there.”
The home run was just the fifth that Morejón had allowed all year and the first since Aug. 18.
Morejón finished the seventh and got through a scoreless eighth to put his pitch count at 31 pitches.
Left-hander Robbie Ray (2⅔ IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BBs, K) turned in a perfect first inning and had stranded Christian Yelich’s one-out single in the second after the Padres’ two-run second.
But Garrett Mitchell began the third with a broken-bat single and Chourio ambushed a one-out, first-pitch slider to tie the game in a hurry.
“I felt good,” Ray said. “I felt like I came out, ball’s coming out really good. Really, just made one mistake. … Pitch selection was good, pitch location, it just kind of came back over the plate. I was just trying to throw a backdoor slider, and it just caught too much plate.”
The Brewers scored more runs than everyone but the Cubs in the regular season despite finishing tied for 28th with just 154 homers.
The irony of all three of their runs scoring on homers wasn’t lost on Brewers manager Pat Murphy.
“They were helpful,” he said. “They were helpful. We’ll take them.”
Brewers fans heckle Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres after he struck out during the ninth inning of Game 1 of the National League Division Series at American Family Field. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
No introduction needed
The best players on opposing teams are often booed. The hate for Manny Machado in Milwaukee, however, might trump the reception he receives in Chavez Ravine.
As a Dodger in Game 4 of the 2018 National League Championship Series, Machado clipped the back leg of Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar while running out a groundout.
Both benches cleared. The Brewers perceived Machado’s act as intentional, with star Christian Yelich going as far as to deem it “a dirty play by a dirty player.”
Machado has heard unrelenting boos from Brewers fans at American Family Field ever since.
Then after Dustin Harris’ groundout in the top of the first, the boos started as Machado approached the plate, before he was even announced and carried right on through a first-pitch ball.
Manny Machado needs no introduction in Milwaukee. pic.twitter.com/eldp2rfwgL
— Jeff Sanders (@sdutSanders) October 4, 2026
“We’re the only two guys left from that team here,” Yelich, seated next to pitcher Brandon Woodruff in the interview room, said of the continued fallout from the Machado incident. “So some of our guys were 10 years old when 2018 went down. So I don’t think they’re thinking about too much of it either. Fans will be fans. They feel obligated to boo. So that’s their right. They can cheer. They can boo. They can do whatever they want. We’re focused on the game, and that’s kind of where our attention is going to be.”
How far we’ve come
The White Sox lost 101 games in Gavin Sheets’ third year in Chicago and a modern-era record 121 games in 2024.
Sheets was not sorry to get a fresh start in San Diego after the White Sox cut him loose. Good friend Andrew Vaughn, the third overall pick in 2019, lasted another half-year in Chicago before he was traded to Milwaukee.
On Saturday, Sheets and Vaughn greeted each other on the field before Game 1 of the NLDS.
“Had a lot of great memories in Chicago together and to see him thriving again is awesome,” Sheets said. “Happy for him. I think we try to talk about the fun times (in Chicago). … We talk about how happy we are with where we’re at now, and the biggest thing is we just root for each other from afar.
“I stopped him today out here and kind of just had a fun moment: Look where we’re at right now.”
Notable
RHPs Mason Miller and Misiorowski had been tied for the fastest pitches in postseason history in the pitch-tracking era (2008) until Misiorowski hit 104.8 mph on the first pitch of Saturday’s game to Fernando Tatis Jr. Misiorowski’s second pitch of the game (104.6 mph) was the second-fastest pitch in postseason history. Both Miller and Misiorowski hit 104.5 mph in postseason games last year. The only other pitcher with a fastball over 104 mph in the postseason: Red Sox LHP Aroldis Chapman (104.2 mph in 2010).