Brewers win 5-4 thriller on William Contreras walk-off homer

Trevor Megill blew his fifth save of the year, but the Brewers came away with the win in an extremely exciting series opener against the San Francisco Giants.

Brewers starter Jose Quintana had a bit of a shaky start, allowing two solo home runs in the first two innings. He retired the first two batters he faced, Heliot Ramos and Rafael Devers, but the third was former Brewers shortstop Willy Adames. Adames got a standing ovation from the crowd in Milwaukee before promptly launching Quintana’s first pitch into the second deck:

Quintana then retired the next batter, Wilmer Flores, to get out of the inning. The second inning was much of the same — Quintana got the first two outs before allowing a solo shot off the bat of Luis Matos. Christian Koss then drew a walk, but Patrick Bailey took strike three right at the bottom of the zone for the third out.

Milwaukee managed two hits (an Andrew Vaughn single and an Andruw Monasterio double) but no runs through the first three innings. The Crew finally tied things up in the fourth inning after Christian Yelich led off with a single. Yelich took second on a wild pitch to Vaughn by Giants starter Carson Whisenhunt. Whisenhunt finished that at-bat by walking Vaughn, bringing up Sal Frelick with runners on first and second. Frelick delivered with a double down the line, scoring Yelich and putting Vaughn on third:

After Caleb Durbin grounded out, Whisenhunt bounced another wild pitch in front of Giants catcher Patrick Bailey, scoring Vaughn. Frelick was caught going too far around third in what was perhaps an overly aggressive baserunning move and was thrown out at scampering back to the base to keep the score 2-2.

Quintana settled in nicely after allowing the two home runs through the first two innings. He retired the Giants in order in the third, fourth, and fifth innings — in part thanks to Monasterio flashing a little bit of leather.

Matt Gage, who had entered the game for Whisenhunt, struck out Monasterio to start the bottom of the fifth. Brice Turang and William Contreras then both worked walks, putting runners on first and second for Christian Yelich. Giants manager Bob Melvin left Gage, a lefty, in the game to face Yelich — who struck out swinging. Melvin then brought in righty Jose Butto to face Andrew Vaughn, who popped up to first baseman Rafael Devers to end the inning.

Quintana retired the first batter, Heliot Ramos, on a ball that would have been a hit had the Platinum Glover Turang not been playing second base:

Quintana then walked Devers, and Brewers manager Pat Murphy had seen enough, pulling Quintana after 82 pitches in favor of deadline acquisition Shelby Miller. Miller struck out Adames on three straight pitches, but then appeared to briefly lose his handle, hitting Wilmer Flores before walking Casey Schmitt. With the bases loaded and two outs, Miller got Jung Hoo Lee to wave at a 2-2 splitter in the dirt for strike three.

The game remained tied at 2-2 until the bottom of the seventh, in part thanks to this absolutely insane play:

Brandon Lockridge grounded out to start the bottom of the seventh, but Joey Lucchesi (in for Butto) hit Monasterio. Turang beat out a bunt to put runners on first and second with still only one out. The next batter was Contreras, who roped a line-drive double down the right field line to score Monasterio and advance Turang to third.

Lucchesi intentionally walked Christian Yelich, after which Melvin pulled him for Ryan Walker. The next batter, Vaughn, grounded out to Devers at first, but Turang was able to score to make it 4-2. With Contreras on third and Yelich on second, Frelick struck out to end the inning.

San Francisco got a run back on another Adames home run in the top of the eighth, bringing San Francisco within a run.

Durbin, Isaac Collins, and Lockridge all failed to reach in the bottom of the eighth. Trevor Megill came on for the ninth inning in an attempt to notch his 31st save of the year. He quickly got the first two outs, but Matos doubled on a first-pitch fastball on a ball that Lockridge dove for and missed. Dominic Smith then singled off of Megill’s leg, putting runners at first and third with one out to go.

After a first-pitch strike to Patrick Bailey, Megill bounced a fastball in front of the plate that Contreras couldn’t keep in front of him. The wild pitch scored Matos to tie the game at 4-4. Megill struck out Bailey, but the damage was done.

Luckily, that wouldn’t matter because William Contreras is the definition of clutch, as he took a 1-0 pitch with two outs in the bottom of the ninth out of reach of Ramos in left.

Tomorrow’s pitching matchup is an exciting one, with Logan Webb scheduled to face off against Freddy Peralta. First pitch is slated for 6:10 p.m.