In the final breaths of a Thursday night contest in Milwaukee, the Brewers reminded us that baseball's cruelest and most generous moments often arrive in the same inning. Trailing by three with only three outs remaining, they summoned a rally built on patience, power, and the redemption of a struggling veteran — Andrew McCutchen ending a 0-for-32 drought with the single that mattered most. The 5-4 victory over the San Diego Padres was less a baseball game than a small parable about the persistence of possibility.
Brewers stun Padres with 4-run ninth-inning rally, 5-4
McCutchen snapped an 0-for-32 slump with a single to win it
Mark
So the Brewers were down 4-1 going into the ninth. That's a pretty steep hill to climb in baseball. What actually happened?
Mimi
Peterson hit a triple off the wall with the bases loaded to tie it, and then McCutchen—who hadn't gotten a hit in 32 straight at-bats—singled to win it. Four runs in one inning.
Mark
McCutchen was 0-for-32? That's brutal. How long had that slump been going on?
Mimi
The source doesn't say exactly when it started, just that he was in the middle of it when he came up in that moment. But yeah, snapping it with a walk-off single is the kind of thing that sticks with you.
Luke
The source is clear on the facts—Peterson's triple, McCutchen's single, the final score. But it doesn't tell us much about how the Padres let this happen. Rogers walked two straight batters. Was that unusual for him? We don't know.
Mimi
Fair point. The source focuses on the Brewers' execution in that moment, not on what went wrong for San Diego's relief pitching.
Mark
What about the rest of the game? It sounds like it was pretty quiet until the ninth.
Mimi
Manaea was striking out eight guys over six innings for San Diego. Houser was doing the same thing for Milwaukee. It was a pitcher's duel until the Padres built that lead with Alfaro's two-run homer and Alcántara's sac fly.
Luke
And then the Brewers' bullpen held them in check long enough for the ninth-inning magic. Strzelecki got the win in his debut—that's a nice detail—but we don't know if he was the one who got those two outs before Peterson came up.
Mimi
Right. The source tells us he worked two innings and struck out three, but not the exact sequence of events in the ninth.
Mark
The Padres also made a big move that day, right? Cutting Robinson Canó?
Mimi
Yeah, less than a month after signing him. He was hitting .091 with no extra-base hits in 12 games. They replaced him with Nomar Mazara, who was tearing it up at Triple-A.
Luke
That's a pretty dramatic failure for a veteran player. But the source doesn't give us context on why the Padres thought Canó would work or what changed. We just know it didn't.
Mark
So the Brewers got the win, but they're also dealing with injuries?
Mimi
They had to put Omar Narvaez on the COVID list right before the game, but they're getting good news on other fronts—Adames, Renfroe, and Woodruff are all progressing in their rehab.
El Pulso
- The Padres carried a commanding 4-1 lead into the ninth inning, their pitching dominant for most of the night and the outcome seemingly settled.
- Taylor Rogers unraveled under pressure, walking two consecutive batters to load the bases and crack open a door Milwaukee had no right to expect.
- Jace Peterson drove a bases-clearing triple off the center-field wall, erasing the deficit in a single swing and silencing whatever comfort San Diego had left.
- Andrew McCutchen, mired in one of the most painful slumps of his career, stepped up and delivered a walk-off single — his first hit in over a month of futility.
- Rookie Peter Strzelecki earned his first major league win with two sharp relief innings, turning a night of near-defeat into an unexpected debut celebration.
- Meanwhile, the Padres quietly released veteran Robinson Canó — a .091 hitter in 12 games — replacing him with a promising Triple-A outfielder, signaling a franchise recalibrating on the fly.
In the final breaths of a Thursday night contest in Milwaukee, the Brewers reminded us that baseball's cruelest and most generous moments often arrive in the same inning. Trailing by three with only three outs remaining, they summoned a rally built on patience, power, and the redemption of a struggling veteran — Andrew McCutchen ending a 0-for-32 drought with the single that mattered most. The 5-4 victory over the San Diego Padres was less a baseball game than a small parable about the persistence of possibility.
The Milwaukee Brewers had three outs left and a three-run deficit when Thursday night's game against the San Diego Padres began to turn. A leadoff single by Keston Hiura, followed by two walks from reliever Taylor Rogers, loaded the bases for Jace Peterson. He made the most of it — driving a triple off the center-field wall that cleared the bases and tied the game at four.
Andrew McCutchen came up next, carrying an 0-for-32 slump into the at-bat. Against Nabil Crismatt, he lined a single back through the middle, and just like that, Milwaukee had a 5-4 walk-off victory.
The comeback obscured what had been a well-pitched game on both sides. San Diego's Sean Manaea struck out eight over six innings, and Milwaukee's Adrian Houser was nearly his equal through five. The Padres had built their lead steadily — Eric Hosmer with a run-scoring double, Jorge Alfaro with a two-run homer in the sixth, and Sergio Alcántara's sacrifice fly in the eighth. It looked like enough.
Peter Strzelecki, making his major league debut, worked two scoreless innings in relief to earn the win — an unexpected bright spot in what had seemed like a forgettable evening for Milwaukee.
Off the field, the Padres made a significant move, releasing veteran Robinson Canó after just 12 games. The 39-year-old had managed only three hits in 33 at-bats — a .091 average — and declined a Triple-A assignment before becoming a free agent. San Diego replaced him with outfielder Nomar Mazara, who had been thriving at Triple-A El Paso with a .367 average and a 1.095 OPS.
The series resumes Friday with Corbin Burnes taking the mound for Milwaukee against San Diego's MacKenzie Gore — two of the sharper arms in the National League, meeting for the first time this season.
The Milwaukee Brewers were down to their final three outs Thursday night, trailing the San Diego Padres 4-1 with nothing but the bottom of the ninth inning left to work with. What unfolded over the next few minutes would erase that deficit entirely and send the home crowd into celebration.
Jace Peterson stepped to the plate with the bases loaded after Taylor Rogers, the Padres' relief pitcher, had walked two straight batters following a leadoff single by Keston Hiura. Peterson connected on a drive that sailed toward center field and struck the wall, clearing the bases with a triple that tied the game at four. The momentum had shifted entirely. When Andrew McCutchen came up next against Nabil Crismatt, who had just been called in to face him, the Brewers' struggling outfielder—mired in an 0-for-32 drought—delivered a single back up the middle that ended the game. Milwaukee won 5-4.
The comeback erased what had been a tightly pitched contest through most of the evening. San Diego's Sean Manaea had been dominant through six innings, striking out eight batters while allowing just one run. Milwaukee's Adrian Houser matched that efficiency, giving up a single run over five innings with five strikeouts of his own. The Padres had built their lead methodically: Jorge Alfaro's two-run homer off Brent Suter in the sixth put San Diego ahead 3-1, and Sergio Alcántara's sacrifice fly in the eighth extended it to 4-1. Eric Hosmer had driven in a run with a double in the fifth, while McCutchen had tied the game at one with a groundout in the bottom half.
Peter Strzelecki, making his major league debut, earned the win by working two innings in relief and striking out three batters. His performance marked an unexpected bright spot for Milwaukee in what had seemed like a losing effort.
The loss came as the Padres were making significant roster moves of their own. Robinson Canó's time in San Diego had lasted less than a month. The 39-year-old veteran, signed to provide offensive punch against right-handed pitchers, had managed just three hits in 33 at-bats across 12 games—a .091 average with no extra-base hits and just one RBI. He struck out ten times before declining an assignment to Triple-A El Paso and becoming a free agent. Canó had arrived in San Diego after being released by the New York Mets, and his brief stint with the Padres proved equally disappointing.
San Diego replaced Canó on the active roster with outfielder Nomar Mazara, a former top prospect who had bounced between three organizations over the past three years. At Triple-A El Paso this season, Mazara had been productive, hitting .367 with seven home runs, 27 RBIs, and a 1.095 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. The Brewers, meanwhile, had made their own last-minute roster adjustment, placing catcher Omar Narvaez on the COVID-19 injured list just before game time and promoting catcher Alex Hall from Class A Wisconsin.
For the Padres, outfielder Wil Myers sat out his third consecutive game due to a sore right knee that had plagued him all season. He had received an injection on Tuesday to address the injury but remained available off the bench if needed. The Brewers, by contrast, received encouraging news on the injury front: shortstop Willy Adames resumed his minor league rehab assignment at Triple-A Nashville after an ankle injury, outfielder Hunter Renfroe completed an on-field workout while recovering from a hamstring issue, and right-hander Brandon Woodruff played catch without problems as he worked back from an ankle injury.
The series continues Friday night with Brewers right-hander Corbin Burnes facing the Padres for the second time this season. Burnes has been sharp recently, allowing just two hits over seven shutout innings in his last start and holding San Diego to one run over six innings on May 24. The Padres counter with left-hander MacKenzie Gore, who threw seven scoreless innings in his most recent outing and will face Milwaukee for the first time.
Citas Notables
McCutchen snapped an 0-for-32 skid with a base hit back up the middle to win it— Game summary
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