Another memorable day cements a young Brewer's place: 'Jackson belongs in the big leagues'

In what most expect to be a routine occurrence, Jackson Chourio electrified the American Family Field crowd on Wednesday afternoon.

Playing just his second game in his new home, the phenom slugged his first major-league home run to lead off the fifth inning, a 402-foot shot to right-center that gave the Milwaukee Brewers a 3-1 lead over the Minnesota Twins.

The final outcome – a 7-3 loss – was tough to swallow, and by and large the byproduct of what is already appearing to be an overworked bullpen.

But the feel-good moment was one of the biggest takeaways of the day, and the latest box ticked off on Chourio's list of major-league achievements.

"He’ll remember it for sure," said manager Pat Murphy. "I’ll remember it. A lot of people that are close to him will certainly remember it. Day by day, you notice more and more that Jackson belongs in the big leagues. There was some touch-and-go early in spring training where it was like, ‘Is he ready for this?’

"But he’s proven that he’s ready for it. Again, playing major league baseball and hitting at the highest level, you’re going to have ups and downs. He’s aware of it and we have to prepare him for that."

Right-hander Daniel Duarte had just replaced Twins starter Chris Paddack when Chourio pounced on a center-cut slider and drove it over the wall.

He pointed to the stands as he rounded third then was greeted by orchestrated indifference from Murphy and shortstop Willy Adames before finally getting some high fives from teammates and staff members as he made his way through the dugout.

"Very happy," Chourio said through translator Daniel de Mondesert. "I knew it was gone there, so thanks to God for being able to put a good swing on it. "(The silent treatment) was a little bit weird, but I was waiting on it."

A bonus: The ball landed in a narrow gap between two walls, meaning no fans were able to get at it and no negotiations were required to retrieve it.

"It fell in a good spot," he said. "I'm happy it's in my possession."

The homer was Chourio's only hit of the day but it was good enough to stretch his streak to five, making him the eighth Brewers player to begin his career with as many. Joey Wiemer set a franchise record by hitting in his first seven games last season and BJ Surhoff hit in six straight in 1987.

At 20 years and 23 days, Chourio is the youngest Brewers player to homer since Gary Sheffield (19 years, 318 days) on Oct. 1, 1988, at Oakland and the younger player to homer in the majors since Washington's Juan Soto (19 years, 339 days on Sept. 29, 2018, at Colorado.

Chourio is also the fourth player in Brewers history to collect at least seven hits through his first five games, joining Paul Molitor (nine in 1978), Dale Sveum (seven in 1986) and Kevin Barker (seven in 1999).

"I'm just going to go out there and try to be the best version of myself so that we can go out there and win games," said Chourio.

Brewers debut goes OK for Joe Ross

For a guy who hadn't stepped on the mound in a major-league game in a total of 967 days, Joe Ross will take Wednesday without hesitation.

Sure, the numbers weren't great – two hits, five walks, three strikeouts over 3 ⅔ innings – but the 30-year-old right-hander kept the Twins off the scoreboard and, most important, felt fine afterward.

"It was great," said Ross, who missed the last couple months of 2021 and all of 2022 and 2023 recovering from a second Tommy John surgery. He also opted out of the 2020 pandemic season.

"A really long process, obviously," he continued. "I didn't know the number of days until I saw it earlier. But it felt great to be back. I don't feel like it was a crazy amount of emotions. Maybe the buildup over the last couple days. Honestly, maybe a little bit more anxious just being in the bullpen the first couple days in New York – when the phone rings, you never really know.

"It was kind of nice to have a starter's routine today and feel comfortable going into the game."

Ross had to battle for everything in this one, failing to record a 1-2-3 inning and throwing 73 pitches while not getting out of the fourth.

The big bugaboo proved to be the free passes; he doled out two in the second, another in the third and two more in the fourth before being pulled in favor of Hoby Milner.

The first of those would have ended up as a run on his ledger had it not been for a dynamite play by Joey Ortiz on a Manuel Margot bunt and a successful challenge of Bruce Dreckman's safe call on the play.

Ross threw an almost even split of sliders and sinkers and topped out at 95.4 mph on the radar gun.

"Joe will tell you he didn’t throw his best. But he competed," Murphy said. "I loved what I saw because he hasn’t started a major-league baseball game since 2021 and has had a track record of tough injuries. Joe Ross was good for his first time.

"It wasn’t sharp, obviously, with that many three-ball counts. I thought his slider was better than it has been and he competed unbelievably."

Joey Ortiz has some amazing hands

The play was jaw-dropping.

With bases loaded and two outs in the fourth, Margot dropped down a surprise bunt against Milner that would have been a hit nine out of 10 times.

And briefly, it was as Dreckman ruled Margot safe on a bang-bang play at first base after Ortiz came rushing in, gloved the ball, made a perfect transfer and then fired a laser over to Rhys Hoskins at first base.

But Dreckman's call was overturned after a Milwaukee challenge, and Ortiz had preserved what was at the time a 2-0 Brewers lead.

Such is the bonus of having a natural shortstop playing alongside Willy Adames.

"Weird hop, off the bunt," said Hoskins. "So, just the reaction to be able to get it in the glove. But the transfer's something I don't know if I've ever seen, that quick and not an awkward throw.

"But I've gotten a chance to watch this guy now for eight-nine weeks straight and he has some of the best hands I've ever seen. I can't say I'm surprised but man, what a play."

The Brewers successfully challenged two of Dreckman's calls at first; Sal Frelick ultimately was awarded an infield hit after hustling down the line to start the bottom of the second inning.

"Love it," said Hoskins.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers' Jackson Chourio hits first homer in loss to Twins