Unlikely heroes: Bauers, Frelick, Myers almost get Crew to finish line

MILWAUKEE -- Before the Brewers handed a two-run lead to their star closer in Game 3 of the National League Wild Card Series, it was a night for the underdogs.

Take the bottom of the seventh inning. With veteran stars Willy Adames, William Contreras and Rhys Hoskins on the way to going 1-for-10 on the night and 4-for-32 in the series, Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy summoned Jake Bauers to pinch-hit against tough Mets right-hander José Buttó. Bauers batted .199 in the regular season.

Up next would be right fielder Sal Frelick. He hit two home runs in 2024, in back-to-back games May 14-15, and he wasn’t even expected to play in this postseason after injuring his right hip while crashing into the wall less than a week ago. Frelick had to be carried into the clubhouse.

“We were sitting in the on-deck circle and he kind of looked at me and said, ‘Let’s just have some fun,'” Frelick said. “We were playing a little tight up to that point.”

Bauers intended to change that.

“I looked over and he was smiling,” Frelick said. “You could tell he was really excited.”

Bauers and Frelick hit back-to-back pitches for home runs, giving the Brewers a 2-0 lead with six outs to go. Had the ninth inning gone differently, they would have been two of the biggest homers in Brewers history -- just as big as the ones Jackson Chourio and Garrett Mitchell hit the night before to extend the season.

“That’s up there with the birth of my child, for sure,” Bauers said. “It’s tough to be excited about it right now. I just really wish we could still be playing.”

Is there a lesson in there about unlikely heroes?

“There’s something to be said for mental toughness, focus, not giving up, being persistent and having a little bit of confidence regardless of how things are going or how they’ve been,” Bauers said. “Just show up and be the best version of yourself every day and let the chips fall where they may.”

The Brewers were only in that position -- a tie game in the seventh -- thanks to another underdog in right-hander Tobias Myers. He was coming off a 1-15 season when he signed a two-year Minor League contract with the Brewers at the end of 2022, and when he reported to Spring Training in ‘24, he wasn’t on Murphy’s list of the top 25 pitchers with a chance to help the team.

But help he did, cementing a spot in the rotation for this year -- and almost certainly for 2025 -- after injuries cut down Wade Miley, Jakob Junis and fellow rookie Robert Gasser. Myers delivered a 3.00 ERA in 27 games and 25 starts. Against the Mets, he pitched five scoreless innings on two hits and no walks, becoming the fifth pitcher to deliver a scoreless start of at least five innings in a postseason debut that occurred in a winner-take-all game.

The others were all in Wild Card Games when that round was a one-game affair: Kyle Freeland for the Rockies in 2018, Jake Arrieta for the Cubs and Dallas Keuchel for the Astros in 2015 and Alex Cobb for the Rays in 2013.

“I was just trying to get as many outs as I can,” Myers said. “I felt pretty good from Pitch 1. I was definitely amped up a little bit more than normal, but I felt in control. I felt good.”

After losing in such jarring fashion, Myers said, “It’s a crazy game we play. It felt like that all series, back and forth. We knew the Mets weren’t going to lay down and give up.”

It was the sort of stuff that keeps coaches like Brewers hitting coach Connor Dawson coming to work every day.

“You hear the phrase all the time, ‘Anything can happen in baseball,’” Dawson said. “Well, anything did happen. You can talk schemes in other sports and situations. In baseball, a guy has to throw it over the plate and anything can happen.

“That’s the beauty of it all.”