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Rookie Jackson Chourio predicted grand slam in sixth inning

Rookie Jackson Chourio predicted grand slam in sixth inning

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Rising superstar. Future cornerstone of the franchise. Potential National League Rookie of the Year.

All of these adjectives would aptly describe 20-year-old outfielder Jackson Chourio of the Milwaukee Brewers.

As, according to teammate Willy Adames, the seer would do.

“He predicted it,” the Brewers shortstop said following his team's 9-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Labor Day at American Family Field. It Chourio's grand slam in the sixth inning was the game-winning hit and accounted for the eighth bases-clearing hit of the season, the second-most in the major leagues.

“He predicted it before it all happened,” Adames continued. “Nobody was there yet and he said, 'I have to prepare because I'm about to hit a Grand Slam.' And then it happened. It was unbelievable.”

Right-handed rookie Riley O'Brien took the mound at the top of the sixth inning with the Brewers leading 5-3 and opened the game with a walk to Rhys Hoskins, who had hit a home run in his previous at-bat.

Sal Frelick hit a double to right next. Joey Ortiz followed with another free throw to load the bases for Brice Turang, who hit a line drive to first baseman Paul Goldschmidt that seemed to prove to be bad luck.

No worries.

Chourio came to the plate, made a 1-1 count, then jumped over a 90.5-mile slider in the inner third, sending it 420 feet to left center to win the game.

It was Chourio's second grand slam and his 18th home run of the season, along with 67 runs batted in, and he made sure to point to Adames and Frankie Montas in the dugout as he began his march around the bases.

“I think I was kidding them more than anything else,” Chourio said when asked about his prediction. “But luckily the momentum was in our favor.”

The way the last two months have unfolded for Chourio, nothing seems unbelievable or unattainable anymore.

He also managed a walk in each of his first three at-bats on Monday, and in his last 73 games he has claimed to be the Brewers' best all-around player with a .320 average, 13 home runs and 51 RBI.

“I mean, in spring training, everyone was talking about him. Everyone was hyping him up,” Adames said. “And now we're seeing what he really is – a superstar. We're just happy for him that he's overcome that difficult moment early in the season and is showing the world that he has what it takes to be a superstar.”

It was pointed out to Pat Murphy that reporters were running out of opportunities to ask Chourio how he does what he does, and the first-year captain understood that.

“He's in the right mood,” Murphy said. “He's got just the right smile and the right intensity, the right focus. He's just in a great mood. He looks like he was born to do this.”

“Three walks; look at the guys who played in the major leagues at 19 and 20. I bet in all those guys' careers there were fewer than 20 games where they had three walks and hit a grand slam. I guarantee it.

“The child is… it is the right frequency.”

The 2024 Brewers are now tied with the 1980 and 2007 clubs for the second-most grand slams in franchise history. The 1995 team set the record with 10.\

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