The Milwaukee Brewers shocked nearly every baseball fan by coming back against the San Diego Padres and walking off Mason Miller in Game 2 of the National League Division Series.
Mason Miller is the best reliever in baseball and is pretty much automatic in save situations. He has had some hiccups in the final stages of the season, but still, working with a lead it was hard to imagine the Brewers coming back with him on the mound. However, Miller walked the bases loaded, and Jackson Chourio hit a walk-off single against him.
After the game, there was speculation that he was tipping pitches and the Brewers were relaying signs from second base. Even if the Brewers were in his glove and signaling hitters, they were not doing anything illegal. However, veteran catcher Gary Sánchez refused to acknowledge any pitch tipping or signaling.
"I don't know if he was tipping or not," Sánchez said through an interpreter on Monday, per MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. "Seriously, I don't. And if he was, I wasn't aware of it. So, you know, I think, even if he was and we were aware of it, hitting 104 (mph) is not easy by any means. Hitting a pitcher of that caliber and pitches of that caliber, there's nothing easy about that. But again, I really don't - I was not aware. If he was tipping, I was focused on other things in the game."
Even though it was Christian Yelich and Sal Frelick who came around to score the game-tying and winning runs after their walks, it can be argued that Sánchez's walk was the most important. Sánchez was pinch-hitting for the No. 9 hitter, and his walk flipped the lineup card over, back to Chourio.
Chourio is arguably the team's best hitter and is by far the best postseason hitter. Whether Miller was tipping or not, Chourio still had to put Miller's pitch in play to win, and like Sánchez said, it's no easy feat when he's throwing that hard.