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MILWAUKEE – Rowdy Tellez said he passed out at the time of the greatest moment of his career, but not so long ago that he couldn’t appreciate what he had done.
Tellez, the first baseman the Milwaukee Brewers have acquired during the season, landed on a seventh inning fastpitch from Charlie Morton for a two-run homerun, breaking a scoreless tie and propelling Milwaukee to a win 2-1 over Atlanta in Game 1 of their NLDS series.
“They always talk about fainting or being unconscious,” Tellez said. “That’s what it was. I had that moment. As soon as he left the bat, I knew.”
Morton had dominated Milwaukee until then. In six innings, he limited the Brewers to two hits and struck out nine on catches, while throwing just 77 shots. No brewer had even reached second base.
But as so often happens in the playoffs, a crucial and abrupt change of pace changed everything.
First, Morton had a rare command error, as a 1-2 fastpitch to Avisail Garcia pulled away from him and hit the Milwaukee right fielder on the forearm. However, he recovered and took the lead on the 1-2 count for Tellez, securing the second strike on a fastball that a late hit sent by slicing through the left field line and into foul territory.
Tellez, perhaps thinking his bat had cracked on the foul ball, called it time to get a new piece of wood. The short delay only intensified the anticipation building in the stadium.
“I don’t know if I broke that bat,” Tellez said. “I just saw something fly away. I was, like, I need all the help I can get right now.”
As Tellez groomed his new bat for action, he might be getting some help he couldn’t see: The TV show captured Milwaukee’s bubbling shortstop Willy Adames on the last step of the canoe, stroking and talking to his own bat, then kissing him, presumably for good luck.
A moment later, Tellez crushed Morton’s field at 411 feet, well above the home run line on the center-right field fence, as the yellow crowd waving towels at American Family Field shook the closed-roof stadium of jubilation.
Tellez, after making contact, took a few steps towards first base with the bat still in his left hand, then threw it towards the dancing canoe in Milwaukee before circling the bases as the stadium lights turned on. turned on and off during his trot.
“It was cool,” Tellez said. “It’s crazy. Getting a standing ovation, hearing a whole stadium singing your name, that’s a special feeling.”
Due to the remarkable work of Morton and his counterpart, Milwaukee ace Corbin Burnes, the whole game looked like a competition where one big hit would make all the difference.
Morton ended up playing over six innings, allowing three hits and two runs. Burnes tied him field for field, with six scoreless frames, allowing two hits and three walks, while striking out six.
“It was exactly what I thought, coming in, this game would be,” said Atlanta manager Brian Snitker. “Someone had a big hit. And a lot of the big playoffs are home runs. They hit one, and we didn’t. But it was a good game of football.”
In fact, the Braves hit a homerun, as batter Joc Pederson hit a solo shot on the field opposite Milwaukee reliever Adrian Houser’s eighth, giving Pederson at least one homerun in each of the last six playoffs.
But you get Snitker’s point: the score in this series is going to be everything, which means tense ball games, where a mistake can cost you dearly, but it also means that heroes can emerge by arriving just at the right time.
Friday was Tellez Day. And that suited a Milwaukee team that received so many boosts from players acquired over the season, from Tellez to Adames to Eduardo Escobar, who started at third base for the Brewers in Game 1.
Tellez has become a fan favorite since Milwaukee acquired him from Toronto in July, reaching .272 with seven homers and 28 RBIs in 56 games and helping solidify what had been a major positional weakness in first base for the Brewers at the start of the season.
Tellez was also at the center of the game’s biggest defensive play. In the first inning, after Burnes walked the Braves’ first two hitters – the first time he did so in his big league career – and allowed Jorge Soler to reach third base on a field Wandering ruled a passed ball, Atlanta’s Ozzie Albies cut a pitch to Tellez at first base sack.
Tellez hit the base and rolled over to throw home, where Soler was heading after taking off at the crack in the bat. Tellez’s pitch wasn’t perfect, but Milwaukee wide receiver Omar Narvaez circled him and scored quickly to get Soler on the 3-2 double play.
Again, in a tight low scoring game like this, the importance of such pivotal games is magnified.
“The playoffs are all about momentum,” Burnes said. “Rowdy doing that game over there obviously gave us the momentum, but he [also] stopped their momentum. “
So while the Braves have lost Game 1 of a playoff series for the 10th time in their last 11 tries, momentum is on the favored Brewers’ side. But if Game 1 is any indication, there will be more chances for other players like Tellez to enjoy the Hero’s Journey, for one game at least. Or maybe Tellez can relive that dream.
“This is what you are hoping for,” Tellez said. “Most of the time when you practice, [you imagine] it is the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded. It’s a good feeling there.
“But it couldn’t have happened without the way we pitched tonight. That was the key to the game. Good defensive play, the pitching staff. Everyone played well, everyone played hard. . It’s playoff baseball. “
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