Jackson Chourio, William Contreras clutch again as Brewers shut down Padres to head to NLCS

SAN DIEGO — Major League Baseball's best team in the regular season looked every bit like it in their first action of the postseason as well.

After a regular-season-best 103 wins, the Milwaukee Brewers dispatched the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night 3-1, ending an entertaining and hard-fought National League Division Series in four games.

Each of the series' first three games were decided by one run with the home team winning all three. The script flipped however on Wednesday night, with the Brewers snapping a 12-game road postseason losing streak. Prior to Wednesday, Milwaukee last won a road game in 2018 when they defeated Walker Buehler and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.

"I think these guys feel a responsibility to the city, to the fans, to the state," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said before Game 4. "I think they've taken on all that, and they've heard enough chatter."

The irony of that was thick on Wednesday as Buehler started the game for the Padres, but he lasted just 3.0 innings, giving up three hits and one run. It wasn't enough for Buehler to be stuck with the loss ... but it also wasn't enough for the Padres to gain any kind of early momentum.

Unlike the first three games of the series, Milwaukee scored first, forcing San Diego to respond. The Padres were able to do that in the bottom of the third with Fernando Tatis Jr. blasting the longest home run in Padres postseason history at Petco Park during the Statcast era, sending a 1-2 pitch from Robert Gasser 429 feet to knot the game at 1-1.