Brewers’ Brice Turang praises home fans vs Cubs in Game 1 of NLDS
Brewers second baseman Brice Turang said the fans at American Family Field added fuel in the big win over the Cubs to open the postseason.
The Milwaukee Brewers are used to playing in front of evenly-partisan crowds at American Family Field when Wisconsin’s neighbors to the south make the trek to watch their team play, a split that has at times felt like as much as a 50-50 split.
For Game 1 of the National League Division Series, though?
“Definitely wasn’t (today),” Brewers first baseman Andrew Vaughn said. “Our fans were awesome today. It was loud and it was crazy.”
Aside from a heavy contingent of blue and red directly behind the visitor’s dugout, the relative lack of Chicago Cubs fans elsewhere in the park was noticeable. Most sections featured a light smattering of Northsiders but had Brewers fans making up the vast majority during Milwaukee’s 9-3 victory on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 4.
Box score | Brewers vs. Cubs: NLDS schedule
“It didn’t seem 50/50 for sure,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “It felt like a home game. It definitely felt like a home game. They were difference-makers. Our guys feel that. They’re not that experienced. There’s a lot of young guys doing it for the first time, and they carry with them an awesome sense of responsibility.
“To be ready today was fantastic, and the fans helped that. The fans were just — they were in it from the first pitch. That’s rare. When it’s the Cubs series, usually the Cubs have as many fans as we have – or not as many, but they’re very, very loud. That was pretty cool. I thought it was definitely a difference.”
While Cubs fans roared when Michael Busch hit the fourth pitch of the game from Brewers starter Freddy Peralta out to right for a leadoff home run, Milwaukee’s response in the bottom half of the first was even louder.
When Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang and William Contreras all doubled on consecutive pitches to take a 2-1 lead before the Brewers made their first out against Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd, the building was rocking.
“It was loud,” said Turang. “I heard the Brewers fans. I didn’t hear anything else. I heard them cheering, and it was loud. It was a good time. It was fun.”
Brewers season seat holders, to their credit, for the most part held onto their tickets, with possible help from the team sending out messaging that those who resold their NLDS tickets would lose future playoff presale privileges.
“I think with the fans, it definitely felt like a different environment than other games we’ve played against them,” Chourio said. “You could definitely feel them, and you could feel the energy that they were bringing. It was kind of like a different kind of pressure that they brought to the game today. It was great.”
After an off-day, the teams will reconvene at 8 p.m. Oct. 6 for Game 2. We’ll see how the split plays out with the series having shifted in Milwaukee’s favor early.