The Brewers upped their remarkable run of grand slams to five in a span of eight games when Brice Turang went deep with the bases loaded on Sunday, marking the fourth grand slam on the homestand and Turang's second in just more than a week.
The wild run is easily the best such surge in franchise history. Only once before has a Brewers team hit five grand slams in the span of a month, when the 1995 team hit five from Aug. 2 to Sept. 2. That team hit a club-record 10 grand slams for the season season; only seven other seasons have featured more than the six grand slams that the Brewers already have in 2024. Five of those seasons landed on simply seven.
Through the end of May, the Brewers had an abysmal OPS of .441 with the bases loaded, second worst in baseball ahead of the Chicago White Sox. Now, the Brewers are up to .723 for the year in those situations, 17th in the league.
Here's a look at Milwaukee's remarkable series of the slam (plus a little extra).
Brice Turang (June 22, 2024 at San Diego)
- Inning: Ninth
- Opposing pitcher: Johny Brito
- Score: 6-0 deficit to 6-4 deficit (Milwaukee lost, 6-4)
- How it happened: Blake Perkins struck out, Rhys Hoskins singled, Tyler Black struck out, Joey Ortiz singled, Jake Bauers walked, Brice Turang homered
All things Brewers: Latest Milwaukee Brewers news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.
Turang's opposite-field ball just kept carrying out of Petco Park, and though the Brewers still lost the game, 6-4, it made things uncomfortable for the Padres after they headed into the ninth with a 6-0 lead. Robert Suarez was summoned from the bullpen to get the final out, a groundout off the bat of William Contreras.
"I worked extremely hard to get back to my swing," Turang said June 30. "I lifted in the gym; that's where you get the strength. But I'm not trying to crush or hit homers, I'm trying to hit the ball hard back up the middle and just square it up. Good things happen when you're focused like that."
Rhys Hoskins (June 24, 2024 vs. Texas)
- Inning: Sixth
- Opposing pitcher: Jacob Latz
- Score: 3-1 deficit to 5-3 lead (Milwaukee won, 6-3)
- How it happened: William Contreras doubled, Christian Yelich walked, Willy Adames walked, Rhys Hoskins homered
Hoskins had been struggling but hit his first home run since June 3 and second in his previous 71 at-bats to flip the tables on the reigning World Series champion Rangers. He had entered the game 13 for 64 with only three extra-base hits, plus a strikeout in the second and flyout with a man in scoring position. But the blast with nobody out lit a flame that seemed to carry throughout the Brewers' 5-1 homestand.
“He’s got to throw 16 pitches, that’s not nothing,” Hoskins said. “I don’t know if he’s tired but he’s definitely more tired than when he started the inning. And if that gets you a pitch a little bit more up, that’s what seeing a bunch of pitches before you get up to the plate, that’s definitely a factor.”
Jake Bauers (June 26, 2024 vs. Texas)
- Inning: Third
- Oppositng pitcher: Nathan Eovaldi
- Score: 1-0 deficit to 4-1 lead (Milwaukee won, 6-5)
- How it happened: Jackson Chourio singled, Brice Turang struck out, William Contreras lined out to left, Christian Yelich singled, Willy Adames walked, Jake Bauers homered
After the Rangers had struck first against Dallas Keuchel, making his first appearance with the Brewers, Bauers hit a bomb to straightaway center that put the Brewers in front. Keuchel would surrender the lead right back, but the Brewers wound up prevailing thanks to a Chourio inside-the-park home run and a walk-off single in the 10th by Andruw Monasterio. It marked the fourth time in Major League Baseball's past 70 seasons that a team garnered a grand slam, inside-the-parker and walk-off hit in the same game.
It was Bauers' second grand slam of the season.
Jackson Chourio (June 28, 2024 vs. Chicago Cubs)
- Inning: Fourth
- Opposing pitcher: Jameson Taillon
- Score: 2-0 deficit to 4-2 lead (Milwaukee won, 4-2)
- How it happened: William Contreras walked, Christian Yelich grounded into a force out, Willy Adames flew out to right, Sal Frelick reached on catcher's interference, Rhys Hoskins singled, Jackson Chourio homered
Chourio, in the midst of a June surge that we might look back on as the moment things clicked into place, provided all the Brewers' runs for the night with one swing, a line drive that snuck over the wall in left field. It required some luck, including Frelick reaching on catcher's interference and Hoskins hitting a shot up the middle that Jameson Taillon tried to glove with a backhanded play, only to deflect it slowly to short for an infield single. That set the stage for Chourio's big drive, coming one game after he hit an inside-the-park home run against Texas.
“Everybody knows he’s talented,” Adames said. “He just had to adjust to it. This is not the minor leagues. We told him that. He’s just enjoying it now and showing some results. He just needed to adjust to it, and he did. Now he’s being who he is. I’m not surprised.”
Brice Turang (June 30, 2024 vs. Chicago Cubs)
- Inning: Fourth
- Opposing pitcher: Kyle Hendricks
- Score: 3-1 lead to 7-1 lead (Milwaukee won, 7-1)
- How it happened: William Contreras singled, Christian Yelich homered, Willy Adames struck out, Jake Bauers walked, Rhys Hoskins singled, Sal Frelick singled, Jackson Chourio singled, Andruw Monasterio struck out, Brice Turang homered
Again, this required a stroke of good fortune, when Hoskins sent a ball to the wall in left field that Ian Happ couldn't cleanly settle under, and it dropped safely on the warning track for a long single. That allowed the inning to continue to Turang, whose rocket liner over the right field wall put the finishing touch on a seven-run rally. For Turang, it was his 12th career home run, and three were grand slams.
"They're quality at-bats," Turang said after the win over the Cubs. "You've got to get bases loaded first before you can hit a grand slam. Guys are on base and we're having quality at-bats, trying to hit the ball hard, and we caught a couple."
