Chourio sparks 5-run 5th to continue sensational rookie season

MILWAUKEE -- Denting the scoreboard with a monster home run one night, serving a big, two-out base hit to the opposite field the next.

The youngest player in Major League Baseball is developing right before our eyes.

Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio continued to surge toward the finish of a sensational rookie season by delivering the fifth-inning single that not only scored the first run of Milwaukee’s 5-3 win over the Giants at American Family Field on Wednesday, but also opened the door to a five-run inning.

That rally made a winner of Brewers starter Freddy Peralta after the right-hander struck out eight and allowed two hits in six scoreless innings. You can count Peralta among the teammates who helped Chourio navigate a difficult second half of April and a terrible month of May, as the rookie has emerged since then as one of the most consistently productive hitters in baseball. From June 2 -- a two-hit, three-RBI game against the White Sox -- going into Wednesday, Chourio’s .886 OPS ranked 17th of 133 qualifying hitters in MLB. And his 6.09 plate appearances per strikeout was 32nd-best.

“What’s kept him in the big leagues is his better understanding of the zone,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said earlier in the day. “He’s just developing, but his talent level was good enough to keep him in the big leagues in this particular year on this particular team.”