Padres drop the NLDS opener 3-2 as France's possible go-ahead homer dies on the Milwaukee roof
William Contreras homered in the seventh for the winning run, and Ty France's ninth-inning drive struck a roof cable and was caught for an out. Game 2 is Sunday in Milwaukee, with Michael King facing Logan Henderson.
MILWAUKEE: The Padres lost Game 1 of the National League Division Series 3-2 to the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night at American Family Field, falling behind 1-0 in the best-of-five series after one of the strangest finishes in recent postseason memory.
With one out in the ninth and Dustin Harris on first, Ty France hit a towering drive to left field off closer Trevor Megill that struck a cable on the closed roof and stayed in play. Left fielder Jackson Chourio caught it on the warning track for the second out. The Padres challenged whether the ball was fair or foul, the on-field call stood, and Jackson Merrill flied out to right to end the game.
"We joked about it at the umpire meeting today about what would happen if the ball hit the roof. And it was unlikely, but it happened," Padres manager Craig Stammen said afterward. "Unfortunately, a bad break for us. Looked like it was a possible home run. Just didn't go our way."
Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who thought the ball would have hooked foul if it had not hit the cable, joked that the late Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker had a hand in the play: "I think the only thing that you could probably figure on the ball that everybody's going to be talking about is that 'Ueck' decided to put his hand on it and swat it down so Chourio could catch it. So thanks, Ueck."
The seventh inning decided it
William Contreras broke the 2-2 tie with two outs in the seventh, sending a 3-2 pitch from Padres reliever Adrian Morejon 406 feet to center field for the go-ahead homer. Chourio had tied the game in the third with a two-run homer off Robbie Ray, a 420-foot shot that was the outfielder's fifth career postseason homer, the most in Brewers franchise history.
The pitching
Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski needed 88 pitches to get through four innings in his first career playoff start, allowing two runs on four hits with six strikeouts, as the Padres kept fouling off pitches to drive up his count. Ray lasted 2 2/3 innings for the Padres, giving up two runs on four hits. The Padres scored their two runs in the second: Xander Bogaerts reached on a one-out infield single and Ethan Salas singled, Luis Campusano followed with an RBI single to right, and Salas scored from third on Jake Cronenworth's fielder's choice.
The stadium's ground rules say a batted ball that strikes the roof, roof truss or roof cable over fair territory is in play, and if caught by a fielder, the batter is out. A ball that strikes those structures over foul territory is a dead ball. The Padres challenged the fair-or-foul question on France's drive, and the out call was upheld.
What's next
Game 2 is Sunday in Milwaukee, with San Diego's Michael King facing Milwaukee's Logan Henderson. The series shifts to Petco Park for Game 3 on Tuesday.
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