NEW YORK — Rhys Hoskins couldn’t escape the only organization he’s ever known. He was there Friday, by his locker in the Milwaukee Brewers clubhouse after an Opening Day win, and who was playing on TV in the clubhouse?
The Philadelphia Phillies. And not only that, they were hosting Spencer Strider and the Atlanta Braves, the very setting of Hoskins’ career-defining moment: the primal bat snap who punctuated a playoff home run en route to the World Series in 2022.
Hoskins’ Phillies career would come to a cruel and abrupt end the following spring training when he tore his left anterior cruciate ligament fielding a ground ball. While Hoskins spent his final season before going free rebuilding his left knee, Phillies cornerstone Bryce Harper learned first base in his absence.
So Hoskins moved on and signed with Milwaukee in January for two years and $34 million. He still felt pretty normal, even during batting practice at Citi Field before his Brewers debut. Then the game started.
“Once I came out and stood in the box, I was like, ‘All right, I went through a lot last year, both physically and mentally,’” Hoskins said . “We have new things in my life, in a new place, but at the end of the day, we’re still trying to do the same thing – and that’s winning a baseball game. So I’m happy to do it today.
Hoskins didn’t have much of an impact in the Brewers’ 3-1 win over the Mets: He drove into a double play, popped out and struck out. But he cleaned up, played impeccable defense and demonstrated the kind of approach the Brewers will need to defend their NL Central crown.
After drawing a one-out walk in the eighth inning, Hoskins slid hard to second base on a Willy Adames grounder, avoiding the double play and keeping the inning alive. Hoskins kept his spikes low – this wasn’t Hal McRae’s airborne body block in 1977 – but he still made contact with Jeff McNeil, the fiery Mets second baseman.
McNeil stood over Hoskins, yelling at him, and Hoskins let him vent. He’s seen a lot of McNeil, and that’s exactly what he’s doing. Replay confirmed the legal slip, and Hoskins made the most of the non-punching fracas that followed: Facing McNeil from a distance, he rubbed his cheeks with his knuckles, the universal symbol for taunting a crybaby.
“I’ve played in this stadium a lot,” Hoskins said. “He just seems to complain when things aren’t going well, and I think this was one of those times. Maybe I lost a little bit in the heat of the game, but I think it’s just about playing the game hard and playing it the right way.
In any case, the interior earth seemed particularly hard; From the first inning, the Brewers’ Christian Yelich said, players were reminding themselves not to slide too much when trying to steal. But regardless of the conditions, Hoskins’ slide proved useful for a team of 12 players who had never been part of an Opening Day roster before.
“It shows what Rhys is,” manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s a big league baseball player having a rough day at the plate on his first day in a year. And he sent the message to all the kids on this team that even if you don’t have a day you like at the plate, ‘I’m going to play hard.’ I’m going to do the little things that make the game what it is today.
What it was, for the Brewers, was pretty much perfect:
• Freddy Peralta and three relievers combined for the first opening-day hit in franchise history. Peralta, who watched his former teammate Corbin Burnes dominate for Baltimore on Thursday (“He looked great, as always,” Peralta said.) allowed a walk and a second-inning homer to Starling Marte, striking out eight on strikes.
• Yelich, who I took the 7 train to the ballpark, went 3-for-4 with a homer and finally got a hit in his first at-bat on opening day. (“I had 0 out of 10,” he said, “so we had to get to the second decade to get the first.”)
• Catcher William Contreras singled a runner off to first in the second inning, and second baseman Brice Turang made a nifty crossover throw for the first out of the ninth.
• Rookie right fielder Jackson Chourio collected his first career hit, stole a base and a run, and hit a drive blown by Marte against the wall to end the seventh inning. The ball from his first hit — a seventh-inning single — was in his locker after the game, and Chourio said he would give it to his father, Jackson Sr.
Chourio signed an eight-year, $82 million contract in December, a record contract for a non-service player in the major leagues. He earned his way onto the roster in spring training, and Murphy, in his early days as Brewers manager, wanted to beat him to the top spot.
But Murphy wasn’t sure it was too big a burden for Day 1, so he asked Yelich what he thought. Yelich approved the plan.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, do it — it’s better to just get it out of the way instead of sitting there thinking about it for a few innings,’” Yelich said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, we’re bringing him here, so let’s throw him out and see what he’s got and let him get that first at-bat and the jitters.’ He had a great fight.
Chourio walked four pitches and stole second base. In his last appearance, he hit a double play on a scoring grounder. At 20 years and 18 days old, Chourio became the youngest player to run and steal a base in his major league debut, according to MLB’s Sarah Langs.
By also noted that only three players in the divisional era (since 1969) started Opening Day at a younger age than Chourio: Robin Yount, Ken Griffey Jr. and Adrian Beltre. All of them are in the Hall of Fame.
“My brother and my parents, they were all super happy, and even happier to be able to spend some time with me,” Chourio said, through a translator, of his cheering section Friday. “Extremely happy, with family. »
The entire Brewers family felt the same way, including Hoskins. He didn’t dwell long on that Phillies game being broadcast on the clubhouse television. To the Mets, it seemed like he might as well have been a Phillie. But that’s not Hoskins’ problem.
“The Brewers are 1-0,” he said. “That’s all I know.”
(Top photo by Rhys Hoskins: Vincent Carchietta / USA Today)