MILWAUKEE – In the days leading up to the 2016 World Series, Sal Frelick isn’t trying to do much out of the ordinary. A few extra days after the Dodgers rocked the Brewers in the NLCS, it was time to do something he enjoys all season: Go to Catholic mass.
But Brewer’s fever does not stop at the door of the church.
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A little priest entered her; [talking about] having custody of the parties to the church. I was sitting in the back pew, like, “This is cool,” Frelick said before the World Series.
After hitting one of the greatest home runs in Brewer history on Saturday to help lead the Brewers to a 5-4 victory in Game 2, Frelick just became a popular Milwaukee parishioner.
“We hold most of the flights, so check the mass times,” Frelick said Saturday night with a laugh. “I hope everyone is awake tonight and can bring them some joy with the rest of the city.”
Going into the sixth inning, Frelick’s at-bat built momentum for the Brewers in what was then a 4-3 ballgame. The Rays fell behind 4-0 in the first inning, but Milwaukee pulled away against Tampa ace Drew Rasmussen. Once Rasmussen exited the game in the fourth inning, the Brewers continued their attack against the Rays’ bullpen.
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Leading off the sixth against southpaw Ian Seymour, Frelick looked to do something he’s done a lot this season: get on base. The stage was set between familiar foes, as Brewer’s right-handed Rays faced off against his left-hander in college when he was at Boston College and Seymour at Virginia Tech.
At bat Saturday, many Brewers speculated that they made this stop, as did Frelick to battle the Southern Rays. But seeing a seam of two tops and a seam of four peaks, he stripped them, looking for a pitch that he could play.
“He’s a pretty big sinker guy. He was fouling them. He missed a few good ones,” Frelick said later. “And then late in the at-bat, he started throwing four pitches, and he kind of caught me off guard. He was able to catch a few and he was really hoping, because I’d seen a sinker before, that he might leave one over the plate — and I remember, he did.”
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On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Frelick led off Seymour’s 3-2 four-seamer to center field immediately and sent the crowd of 43,245 into an uproar at American Family Stadium.
As Tampa Bay center fielder Jonny DeLuca sprinted toward the wall, every person in the Brewers dugout and every fan in the ballpark rose to their feet. And when the 408-foot shot sailed over the wall, tying the game at 4, pandemonium ensued in Milwaukee.
“It’s great, the quality of this black feeling,” Frelick said.
“I literally started screaming in the dugout,” first baseman Jake Bauers said. “That was such an awesome moment for Sal. Such an awesome moment for the team. That guy means so much to us. To see him have that kind of at-bat and hit a homer, it was an emotional moment.”
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Frelick is not known for his power. He hit four home runs in the regular season, and this was just the second year the pitcher used the measure. But whenever the Brewers had for any time this work, they found it; all leading into the playoff dance.
“He’s the ultimate competitor, a winner. He’s got that factor,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.
One inning later, shortstop Cooper Pratt hit an RBI single that gave the Brewers a 5-4 lead that held on for a Game 2 victory and a commanding 2-0 World Series lead.
“It seems like we had a lot of experience with him on the field,” Frelick said of his team’s return. “Almost every game so far … Our offense has been built as a pull-down type of pitcher, which I think is good when you’re trying to come back.”
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Frelick composes arguably the best part of his career. The right fielder, who finished Game 2 2-for-4 with a homer, is hitting .273 with a .370 on-base percentage in October. He also came within a few feet of his second homer of the game in the seventh inning, and while it would have been a nice two-run game, that also surprised Frelick.
“I’ll never hit the shoulder because I thought it was gone,” he said with a smile.
Before Frelick’s pitch, 16,075 days since a Milwaukee Brewer hit a home run in the World Series, it is unlikely that anyone picked Frelick to end the drought. In doing so, he provided the next chapter in the history of Brewer’s well-received writing.
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As they marched to 9-1 this football season, the hero was different almost every night. In Game 2, it was Frelick’s turn to deliver.
“My favorite pitch of the year, and it’s not even close,” left-hander Aaron Ashby said. “That was electric. This team isn’t what this team is without that guy.”