Stammen bet on Miller for a six-out save. It didn’t work

When it’s written in the annals of Padres history, rookie manager Craig Stammen’s decision to have closer Mason Miller record the final six outs in Sunday’s Game 2 of their 4-3 National League Division Series loss to the Brewers at American Family Field will be analyzed forever.

It obviously didn’t work out. Miller whipped through the eighth inning on 12 pitches, but he lost the plate in the ninth, walking the bases loaded with two out to bring 22-year-old Milwaukee star Jackson Churio to the plate.

“I don’t know what it is, I just think these moments are made for me,” Churio said through an interpreter. “It gives me a little extra adrenaline and that’s what gets me through.”

Churio rose to the occasion. Miller didn’t.

Churio ripped a two-run single to center on Miller’s sixth pitch, giving the Brewers a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series that continues with Game 3 at Petco Park on Tuesday night. Brewer fans, numbering 41,683, went into a frenzy. It was their first postseason walk-off hit since 2018.

The Padres now have their proverbial backs to the wall and must win the final three games of the best-of-five game series to move on to the NL Championship Series against the Dodgers or Braves.

Neither the Padres nor the Brewers have ever won the World Series.

Miller, the NL’s top closer, is your basic high-leverage ninth-inning All-Star reliever. One inning and out. He had been asked to work two full innings only twice in 66 appearances all season. His game log for innings pitched is basically a line of digits reading one.

He had been outstanding all season while being used by Stammen in his regular lane, saving 38 games in 41 opportunities with a 1.67 ERA and a Major League-leading for a reliever 129 strikeouts and 26 walks in 70 innings. Opposing hitters batted .152 against him.

He never walked more than two batters in any appearance and actually went his first 14 outings before allowing his first free pass on April 29.

Sunday was his fourth playoff appearance, all for the Padres during the past two postseasons, including a recent save in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series against the Cubs. Last season after the Padres obtained him from the Athletics at the trade deadline, he served as an eighth-inning setup man for then-closer Robert Suarez.

After striking out a pair of the three Brewers batters in Sunday’s eighth inning, overall he had whiffed 12 of the first 15 playoff batters he faced, walking none and allowing only one hit—a double to the Cubs’ Nico Hoerner this past Wednesday night.

But despite all this, Stammen chose to keep him in the game.

“I think [the way he went through] the top of the lineup in the eighth probably made that decision for Mason,” Stammen said. “Going into the game we were thinking of Mason for six outs anyway, especially how quickly the eighth inning went for him. He was just battling the strike zone there at the end.”

Still, when Garrett Mitchell opened the ninth pounding a routine grounder to short, it seemed as if Miller would close the Padres series-tying victory without incident. And then the roof caved in as Miller seemed to tire.

Christian Yelich walked and stole second base. Sal Frelick also walked putting runners on second. Pinch-hitter Andrew Vaughn flied out to center for the second out. Brewers manager Pat Murphy then opted for another pinch-hitter, the veteran Gary Sanchez.

“I thought he could give us a veteran at-bat,” Murphy said. “And that’s just what he did. Gary especially, I mean, was special.”

Miller couldn’t put Sanchez away, despite pumping a bevy of 100 mph-plus fastballs. He walked on an 89-mph slider just off the plate, loading the bases.

The game had come down to its essential moment as Churio came to the plate. Churio had already hit a two-run homer off Robbie Ray to tie the score, 2-2, in Saturday’s Game 1, 3-2, Brewers win.

“Well, he’s starting to realize how he has to play the game. As talented as he is, he’s still learning the game,” Murphy said about Churio. “He’s just coming into his own. And as a hitter, when he stays under control, it’s amazing. He’s turning into a bona fide, top-flight player. Couldn’t be happier for him because he brings it every day.”

The at bat was mano a mano. One of the league’s top young relievers at 28 vs. one its top young hitters. Miller went ahead on the count 1-and-2 with fastballs at the highest velocity of 104 mph. At 2-and-2, Churio dug in. On the crucial pitch, Miller tried to get him with a 101-mph four-seam fastball. It was too high in the strike zone. Churio made solid contact lining the game-winning single.

It was epic if you were a Brewer fan. A Padre fan, not so much.

“Watching those at-bats beforehand, I knew he was a little bit erratic.,” Churio said about facing Miller. “He was throwing some balls. I knew that he was going to come at me with the fastball at some point, so mentally I was just making sure that I was prepared for that.”

He was more than prepared. Should Miller have been put in that situation? May the debate begin.