MILWAUKEE -- Baseball scribes used to write poems about moments like Jackson Chourio 's latest display of playoff heroics Sunday.
The Milwaukee Brewers were down to their last strike. One run down. Bases loaded. On the mound for the San Diego Padres was Mason Miller, the game's best closer and relentless purveyor of 102 mph fastballs.
At the plate was Chourio, still only 22 years old and yet already in possession of a burgeoning postseason legend.
"He loves those moments," said Christian Yelich, who won an MVP award with the Brewers. "And he knows how talented he is, and what he can do on a baseball field. He can do anything."
On his 40th pitch, Miller fired a 101.3 mph four-seamer that Jackson turned around with a 109.5 mph line drive up the middle, just past the outstretched glove of diving Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth, into center field.
Yelich raced home from third, followed close behind by Sal Frelick's headfirst slide into the plate. Then bedlam. Chourio's two-run single had given the Brewers a dramatic-as-it-gets 4-3 Game 2 win over the Padres and a 2-0 lead in the National League Division Series.
Chourio was asked if it was the most fun he'd had in a game.
"I don't know if 'fun' is necessarily the word," Chourio said through an interpreter, "but I know it's definitely one of the more exciting ones."
Chourio became only the third Brewer to record a game-ending hit in the postseason, joining Mike Moustakas (2018) and Nyjer Morgan (2011). Already Milwaukee's record holder for career postseason homers (five), he now has 15 playoff RBIs, second to Ryan Braun in team history.
"It was just great at-bats in the ninth inning there from everybody," Yelich said. "Sal's walk and then Jackson gets up there. You feel pretty good about it, that he's going to put together a great at-bat and hit something hard."
After a ragged beginning to Game 2, one that featured five errors and three unearned runs between the two teams, the Padres looked as if they were well positioned to even the series when Chourio grounded out with two runners on to end the seventh.
That meant that San Diego manager Craig Stammen could then give the ball to Miller, who saved 38 games in 41 chances during the regular season with a 1.67 ERA and 16.6 strikeouts per nine innings. Since Miller did not pitch in Game 1, and Monday is a travel day for both teams, the hope was that Miller would get the last six outs and send the Padres back to San Diego happy.
The plan fell into peril when Miller struggled to find the strike zone with his triple-digit heater, allowing the Brewers to deploy the trait that has marked their offense all season -- a willingness to pass the baton to the next guy.
"Going into the game, we were thinking of Mason for six outs anyway," Stammen said. "He was just battling the strike zone there at the end."
Yelich walked and stole a base. Frelick drew his second walk in three innings. Then veteran Gary Sanchez, who has seven career postseason homers from his days with the Yankees, was summoned to pinch hit. Rather than swinging from the heels in an effort to end the game and add to his playoff ledger, Sanchez saw six pitches from Miller and didn't swing at any of them.
Sanchez's walk loaded the bases, setting the table for Chourio, and typifying what made this Brewers team so successful during a regular season that saw them win a franchise-record 103 games.
"It's a team that's very unified," Chourio said. "We know what our strengths are, and we know how to support each other. I think everyone's rooting for each other in there. And we know how to win."
After Frelick slid into home plate with the winning run, Yelich tried to tackle the former football star to no avail, so they both joined the celebratory horde that erupted out of the Brewers dugout in pursuit of Chourio.
A game that had been so ugly for the Brewers suddenly had become something beautiful.
"So many great performances today," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "One of the favorite games I've been a part of."
The memorable last at-bat showdown between Miller and Chourio was playoff baseball at its most dramatic, though for Miller, the outcome was hard to swallow.
"Failure in my role is really hard to move past when you look at it, because most of the time when you fail, you lose," Miller said. "Other spots, you get another chance. But that's part of it."
Miller added that if he had it to do over again, he might approach things a little differently. If so, consider it a lesson learned harshly.
"I didn't do my job today," Miller said. "So instead of being in here with a win and a series tied, we're in a hole. So it feels pretty bad. "[I would] probably just get back there, start the ninth over and throw everything down the middle and once they hit it, they hit it. Cardinal rule is pretty much you don't beat yourself and I beat myself today."
For the Brewers, the whirlwind weekend leaves them one win away from a return trip to the NLCS. If they need one big hit to get there, they know who they want at the plate.
"As a hitter, when he stays under control, it's amazing," Murphy said. "He's turning into a bona fide, top-flight player. Couldn't be happier for him because he brings it every day."