Contreras’ seventh-inning homer lifts Brewers past Padres after Chourio’s tying shot

San Diego had the first opening, Milwaukee found the louder reply

For two innings, this looked like a game the Padres were setting up on their terms. They pieced together their only scoring inning in the second, when Luis Campusano singled to right to bring home Xander Bogaerts and move Ethan Salas to third. Jake Cronenworth followed with a fielder’s choice that scored Salas for a 2-0 lead. It was not an explosive inning, but it was efficient, and on a night when San Diego finished with nine hits and four walks, that early sequencing should have been the start of something bigger.

Instead, Milwaukee answered with one swing in the third. Garrett Mitchell reached and came around when Jackson Chourio drove a 420-foot home run to left-centre, wiping out the deficit and resetting the game at 2-2. That moment changed the shape of the night. The Padres had put pressure on early, but Chourio erased it before San Diego could build any separation.

The third-inning response also took some of the sting out of an uneven start from Jacob Misiorowski. The Brewers right-hander lasted only four innings and needed 88 pitches to get through them, allowing four hits, two runs, one walk and striking out six. San Diego had made him work, but once Milwaukee got even, the burden shifted back to the Padres to keep scoring against a game that had become much tighter than their second inning suggested.

Contreras delivered the deciding swing

For four innings after Chourio’s homer, neither side found the next run. San Diego’s bullpen work helped keep the Padres in position. Bradgley Rodriguez covered 1 1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, Yuki Matsui added a clean inning, and Jason Adam worked another scoreless frame. Robbie Ray had been charged with the two early Milwaukee runs over 2 2/3 innings, but the Padres still had every chance to turn the game late.

The tie finally broke in the seventh, and again it came off a Brewers bat with no need for traffic on the bases. Contreras opened the inning’s scoring with a 406-foot solo homer to centre, pushing Milwaukee in front 3-2. That gave the Brewers all three of their runs on two swings: Chourio drove in two, Contreras drove in one, and the Padres were suddenly chasing after spending most of the evening creating more individual baserunners.

Milwaukee still had to finish it, and that part was messier than the scoreline alone suggests. Five Brewers relievers combined for five scoreless innings after Misiorowski exited. Antonio Senzatela and Aaron Ashby steadied the middle innings, Abner Uribe escaped after allowing two hits in one-third of an inning, DL Hall worked around two walks in his frame, and Trevor Megill recorded the final four outs while allowing one hit and striking out two. The Padres kept forcing Milwaukee to pitch under strain, but they could not find the tying run.

Our take: the difference was conversion, not opportunity

The Padres will come away from this one frustrated for a simple reason: the raw volume was there. They outhit Milwaukee 9-7, drew the same number of walks, and made Brewers pitching throw 175 pitches. Yet after the second inning, they went seven straight innings without scoring. That is the central failure of the game. San Diego generated enough traffic to threaten, but without a home run, it needed another well-timed sequence of contact and never produced it.

There is a lesson in that without stretching beyond the facts. When a club scores twice in one inning and then leaves the rest of the night to singles, walks and near-misses, the margin for error gets very small. San Diego struck out nine times, hit into one double play, and got only one extra-base hit. Against a Milwaukee staff that did not exactly cruise, that left too much on the table.

From the Brewers’ side, this was a sharp reminder that a cleaner box score is not always required to win a close game. They managed only seven hits, but two of them left the yard, and those swings covered for a starter who could not get past the fourth. Milwaukee also added pressure in smaller ways, including two stolen bases, and its relievers pieced together the final five innings despite allowing baserunners. In a 3-2 game, that combination of timely power and just-enough pitching is often the whole story.

That is what made this result feel decisive even though it stayed within one run. Chourio’s homer kept Milwaukee from spending the night behind, Contreras’ homer finished the comeback, and the Brewers made the better use of their chances. The Padres created more than enough to avoid this outcome. They simply did not convert enough of it when the game was there to be taken.

Scoring moments

1. 2nd Inning

   Campusano singled to right, Bogaerts scored, Salas to third.

2. 2nd Inning

   Cronenworth grounded into fielder's choice to first, Salas scored, Campusano to second.

3. 3rd Inning

   Chourio homered to left center (420 feet), Mitchell scored.

4. 7th Inning

   Contreras homered to center (406 feet).