Jackson Chourio Was Nails

Mason Miller wasn't looking like himself by the time Jackson Chourio stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth of Game 2 of the NLDS. After making quick work of three Brewers hitters in the bottom of the eighth inning, Miller was trusted to go back out there for the ninth and protect the Padres' 3-2 lead. It was only the third time all season he'd been called on to pitch six outs, and by the time he'd recorded two outs in the ninth he'd also issued three walks. The most unhittable pitcher in baseball wasn't getting hit, but he was in trouble nonetheless. None of this is meant to diminish what Chourio did next. It is only meant to establish that baseball is a game that unfolds as a series of discrete moments that are not necessarily related to what came before. The first three batters Miller faced were blown away, and then three more benefited from the fact that he was having some trouble locating his slider. Chourio watched all of this from the dugout and the on-deck circle, and as he stepped to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded and his team down a run, he had to decide how to attack Miller. Baseball's most indomitable relief pitcher had just given out three free passes, and it's very rare that anything nearly as good as getting on base comes from swinging at one of Miller's pitches. A good time to keep the bat the shoulder, no? Miller, too, had to make a decision. He could decide to let what had already happened in the inning affect how he approached Chourio's at-bat, or he could put it all out of his mind. He could remember that he's Mason fucking Miller, the guy who struck out 129 batters in 70 regular-season innings and allowed 13 earned runs all year. He could decide that everything that had just happened didn't matter, and all he needed to do to get his team a win was get one out.

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