Brewers get a big assist from their ballpark roof to beat the Padres 3-2 in NLDS opener

MILWAUKEE (AP) — As soon as he swung the bat, Ty France believed he had hit a two-run homer to put the San Diego Padres ahead in the ninth inning of their NL Division Series opener against Milwaukee.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy figured France’s drive was heading foul instead.

Neither was correct.

In one of the most bizarre plays in American Family Field’s 25-year history, France hit a towering flyball that seemed as though it might be headed over the left-field wall until it struck a cable on the roof of the stadium. The ball then fell into the glove of Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio on the warning track for the second out of the inning.

One out later, the Brewers had secured a 3-2 victory Saturday night to take the early lead in this best-of-five series.

“We joked about it at the umpire meeting today about what would happen if the ball hit the roof,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “And it was unlikely — but it happened.”

How unlikely?

“It’s the first time I’ve seen that in four years here,” said Brewers closer Trevor Megill, who gave up the long drive. “I had no idea what the ruling was until the home plate umpire came up and told me it’s a live ball, no matter what.”

Under the stadium’s ground rules, any batted ball striking the roof or one of its cables in fair territory is a fair ball that can be caught for an out. The Padres unsuccessfully challenged that France’s drive was a foul ball.

“Unfortunately, a bad break for us. Looked like it was a possible home run. Just didn’t go our way,” Stammen said.

The game-changing play came with one out in the ninth after Dustin Harris hit a leadoff single to put the potential tying run on base. France’s drive on a 1-0 pitch left his bat at 105.3 mph with a 49-degree launch angle, and it was caught 325 feet from home plate.

Megill was asked after the game what he thought once France swung the bat.

“Oh, crap,” Megill said. “I’ll keep it PG for you.”

France had no doubt the ball would have cleared the left-field wall if it hadn’t hit the cable.

“The biggest question was, was it going to stay fair or foul,” France said. “I thought I back-spun it, and it was going to stay fair. I knew it was going out. It was just unfortunate.”

Murphy disagreed.

“It was going to be a foul ball, for sure. I’m standing right on that line,” Murphy said. “A hitter that talented, they would have liked to have that hitter back up there with another strike.”

Instead, Chourio was in the right place at the right time as the ball landed harmlessly in his glove.

“I wasn’t all that sure of what the rule was, and I wasn’t really all that sure that it actually did hit anything,” Chourio said through interpreter Daniel de Mondesert. “I thought I had a chance on that ball kind of the whole time off the bat. Then the only thing I kind of realized (is) it changed direction a little bit, but I thought I had a bead on it for the majority of the time.”

Megill then completed his four-out save by retiring Jackson Merrill on a liner to right fielder Luis Lara.

It wasn’t the first time the American Family Field roof played a role in a Brewers playoff game. Milwaukee’s Craig Counsell caught a high pop fly from Philadelphia’s Jayson Werth that hit the roof during the 2008 NL Division Series.

Remarkably, this also wasn’t the first time this season the Padres have lost a potential home run to a stadium’s unique ground rules.

Xander Bogaerts had a potential solo homer taken away at Tampa Bay’s Tropicana Field on Aug. 28 when his drive struck the stadium’s B-ring catwalk in fair territory and was caught by Rays third baseman Junior Caminero. Bogaerts’ drive had been projected by Statcast to go 386 feet.

The fact that those types of projected distances are available had France wondering if something can be done to avoid these types of circumstances in the future.

If it’s apparent the ball would have been a homer if it hadn’t hit the roof, why not just call it a homer?

“You would think with all the technology and data and everything we have now, we’d be able to make a clear call on that,” France said. “I don’t know if that’s ever been done before, but yeah, there should be something put in place right there. That shouldn’t be an out.”

France didn’t get his homer. He just got a natural topic of conversation the next time he and Megill cross paths. The two big leaguers have a history together from shared Southern California backgrounds.

“Him and I go way back,” France said. “We played on the same high school scout ball team, so I’ve known him for a long time.”

While the Padres could blame their loss on a cruel twist of fate, Murphy believed he knew exactly who to thank for this improbable finish. He thought of longtime broadcaster Bob Uecker, who remains the most beloved figure in Brewers history less than two years after dying at age 90.

“Ueck decided to put his hand on it and swat it down so Chourio could catch it,” Murphy said. “So thanks, Ueck.”

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