Jackson Chourio gave Milwaukee Brewers fans something they had never seen before in the ninth inning of Tuesday's doubleheader nightcap against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The 22-year-old right-handed hitter turned around and batted left-handed against Cardinals position player-pitcher Bryan Torres, and he nearly hit a home run doing it. Torres threw an eephus pitch at 34.9 mph, and Chourio drove it a projected 360 feet to center field before Cardinals outfielder Nathan Church caught it a few steps shy of the warning track.
It was the first time Chourio had swung a bat left-handed in an MLB game. He said he hadn't done it in years before stepping into the box from the other side with a seven-run Milwaukee lead in a game that was well in hand.
"They asked me before if I wanted to try hitting left-handed, and I told them, 'yeah,'" Chourio said via translator Daniel de Mondesert, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. "I had fun doing it. One of the most important parts of this game is to just have fun."
Manager Pat Murphy was equally entertained. "He looked good," Murphy said. "It was the first time he's swung the bat left-handed in years, he said, but he looked really good. He's an athlete. He's a baseball player."
Chourio is batting .286 with 12 home runs and 33 RBIs this season. He signed an eight-year, $82 million contract with Milwaukee in December 2023 after arriving as a $1.9 million international free agent signing from Venezuela in 2021.
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
The Brewers swept the doubleheader and are 57-33, first in the National League Central. Milwaukee has now won seven straight games against the Cardinals and four in a row overall heading into Wednesday's series continuation.
Chourio said he was surprised by how far the ball carried. He plans to keep his day job as a right-handed hitter, but Tuesday's moment gave the Brewers a memorable highlight on their way to another comfortable win.
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