That $82 million contract Jackson Chourio signed before his first major league game is looking like a great deal with every hit he gets this postseason for the Milwaukee Brewers.
On Wednesday night, Chourio hit two home runs to help the Brewers win 5-3 against the New York Mets in Game 2 of their NL Wild Card Series, keeping their season alive. He hit a leadoff homer and then another to kick off a three-run rally in the eighth inning.
“It’s must-see TV every time he comes up to bat,” said Brewers closer Devin Williams. That really feels true lately.
Instead of getting nervous under the postseason pressure, the 20-year-old rookie has excelled. He went 2 for 4 in an 8-4 loss in Game 1 and had an even bigger impact the next day.
“The pressure is always going to be there,” Chourio said through a translator. “So as a player, our job is to control it the best way possible. So it’s to go out there and find the moments where we can control it and keep going out there and doing what we do.”
Chourio started the bottom of the first inning by hitting a 376-foot home run over the right-field wall on an 0-2 sinker from Sean Manaea. This made him the youngest player to hit a leadoff homer in postseason history.
He also recorded the second leadoff homer in Brewers postseason history. The first was hit by Corey Hart against St. Louis in Game 6 of the 2011 National League Championship Series, although the Cardinals still won 12-6, ending the Brewers’ season.
Chourio played a key role in ensuring the Brewers’ season continued on Wednesday night. He began the eighth inning by hitting a 1-1 cutter from Phil Maton and sending it 398 feet, well over the right-center wall.
Chourio is the second-youngest player to hit two home runs in a postseason game, following 19-year-old Andruw Jones for Atlanta in the 1996 World Series opener at Yankee Stadium. According to MLB.com, the only rookies to have multiple tying or go-ahead homers in a postseason game are Chourio and Evan Longoria.
