Chourio’s dramatic homer helps Brewers down Cubs

The Brewers were down 2-1 when Chourio delivered a groundball single against a drawn-in Cubs infield. Chourio then stole a base and scored what proved to be a very important insurance run on Christian Yelich’s single afterwards. That made it 4-2 prior to Pete Crow-Armstrong hitting a solo homer in the ninth. Chourio is batting .315 with four homers and 11 RBI in his last 12 games.

Chourio is heating up. He’s hit safely in 13 of his last 15 games and this was his second four-hit game over the past week as he paced his Brewers in a comeback win against the Cubs. In total, they stacked 14 hits and went 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Their opponents claim they do that every game, but this lineup looks a whole lot different when Chourio is locked in like this at the top of their order. Even after missing more than a month to begin the season, he’s up to 21 home runs and his .834 OPS would be his career-best by a decent margin.

Chourio’s home run was his 20th of the season. He hit a solo shot off Cal Quantrill in the first inning. Chourio has found his power stroke in August with seven home runs and 14 RBI in 26 games this month. He’s hitting .281 with an .820 OPS and 56 RBI this year.

Chourio led off the game by lining the first pitch Sean Manaea threw for a leadoff single. He then raced around to score the game’s first run on an RBI single by Andrew Vaughn. The 22-year-old outfielder then clubbed a 389-foot (104.2-mph EV) two-run shot on a first-pitch fastball in the second that extended the Brewers’ lead to 4-0. He also started the fifth inning with a single, swiped second base and scored on a ground out off the bat of William Contreras. Chourio finished his glorious night with a 380-foot (102.8-mph EV) two-run shot off of Xzavion Curry in the eighth that capped off the scoring in the game. He’s now slashing a healthy .283/.345/.477 with 19 homers, 54 RBI and 14 stolen bases in 447 plate appearances on the year.

It appears to be a routine day off for Chourio, who hasn’t taken a seat since last month’s All-Star break. It’ll be Sal Frelick taking over in left field for his first action since coming off the injured list.

It could have been a bigger day, but Chourio just missed on flyouts of 388 and 376 feet. He’s still gone 8-for-17 with two steals and five runs scored in his last four games.

The second double should have been an out at Miller Park, as it went off Kyle Tucker’s glove at the wall in right. However, it also would have been a homer in 23 ballparks, according to Statcast. Chourio snapped out of a little 2-for-19 skid today. It’s the third time this year that he’s scored three runs in a game.

Murphy misspoke Tuesday when he told reporters that it was Brice Turang that was dealing with thumb soreness. The 22-year-old outfielder is in the lineup for Wednesday’s game against the Padres, but fantasy managers should pay close attention to the situation.

Chourio blasted a solo homer off Twins starter Zebby Matthews in the bottom of the first inning to give the Brewers an early 1-0 lead. It was the 16th homer of the season for Chourio and his third in his last four games. He’s off to a blistering start this month, slashing .320/.433/.720 with four extra-base hits.

Chourio hit a 388-foot homer just over the wall in right center in the first. It would have been a homer in nine ballparks, according to Statcast. Four innings later, he hit a ball 395 feet to a similar area, but just a little too far to the left of where the wall juts in, resulting in a long flyout. Both were impressive shots, though. After a down month of July in which he homered only once, Chourio is 7-for-21 with two homers and four walks to open August.