Top 10 moments from Brewers' 2019 season

1. Lo Cain saves Opening Day
March 28 vs. Cardinals

It’s not every year that the defensive play of the season occurs on Opening Day, but Lorenzo Cain made it happen in 2019 and rode the buzz all the way to his first career Gold Glove Award. For the first of his five home run-robbing catches, Cain perfectly timed his leap and pulled back a José Martínez fly ball that would have tied the game had it cleared the fence. Instead, the sensational catch ended the Brewers’ 5-4 win over rival St. Louis.

2. Braun slams Cardinals
Sept. 15 at Cardinals

It was arguably the signature victory of the Brewers’ 18-2 winning spree in September, a 7-6 triumph at Busch Stadium that was shaping into a loss before Ryan Braun stepped to the plate and delivered one of the biggest hits of the season, followed by perhaps the year’s best quote. His two-out, full-count grand slam turned a 4-3 deficit into a 7-4 lead in what became a 7-6 win, and was emblematic of the fight the Brewers showed down the stretch after losing club Most Valuable Player Christian Yelich to a knee injury. Braun’s second home run of the day was the Brewers’ 232nd of the season, breaking a club record that had stood since Braun’s rookie year in 2007. “I’m definitely not as good as I was,” he said. “But in big moments, I’m the guy, still.”

3. The Clincher
Sept. 25 at Reds

Ten days after his grand slam in St. Louis, Braun hit another in the first inning of a 9-2 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park to clinch a spot in the postseason with four games remaining on the regular season schedule. It completed an improbable late-season surge that boosted the Brewers’ chances to make the playoffs from about 6 percent to 100 percent in the span of three-and-a-half weeks. In a sentimental twist at the end, manager Craig Counsell gave the ninth inning to right-hander Junior Guerra, who was the first player acquired by general manager David Stearns when Stearns took over at the end of the 2015 season.

4. Yelich beats the Cubs
Sept. 7 vs. Cubs

Counsell called it the best game of Yelich’s two terrific years in Milwaukee. The Cubs didn’t give Yelich anything to hit for eight innings, so he walked three times, stole three bases and became Major League Baseball’s first 40-30 player since Braun in 2012. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Yelich finally got something he could put his bat on, and poked a walk-off double to the left-field corner that eluded Kyle Schwarber and gave the Brewers a 3-2 win. They were just getting going; this was the second of seven straight victories as the Brewers climbed back within striking distance of the postseason despite losing Yelich three days later when he fractured his right kneecap on a foul ball.

5. Yelich hits Nos. 40 & 41 in D.C. epic
Aug. 17 at Nationals

Pick your favorite highlight from this epic Saturday night in what arguably was the Brewers’ game of the year. It spanned five hours and 40 minutes. The Brewers lost leads of 5-0 in the third inning and 8-5 in the sixth. Yelich hit his 40th home run in the ninth inning as the Brewers scored four runs for a 12-11 lead, then homered again in the 13th inning as the Brewers took a 13-12 lead -- only to see Washington come back to tie the game both times. The Brewers scored twice in the 14th, and this time held off another comeback to finish a marathon win, 15-14. Leading the way was Yelich, who entered the night 1-for-15 since returning from a brief absence due to his back, but went 5-for-6 with four RBIs.

6. Yelich beats the Cardinals
March 31 vs. Cardinals

Yelich homered in the first inning to match a Major League record with a home run in each of his team’s first four games, then walked it off in the ninth with a double to give the Brewers a season-opening series win, 5-4, against St. Louis. It was a continuation of Yelich’s incredible finish the season before, when he rode the surge to the National League MVP Award. “I’ve never seen anyone this good at baseball for this long,” Braun said. “I mean, maybe [Barry] Bonds in his prime. As great as [Mike] Trout is. I’ve seen [Albert] Pujols. … I think everybody should take the time to appreciate it, because what we’re witnessing is greatness.”

7. Huira’s walk-off homer
July 27 vs. Cubs

After just missing a home run in the sixth inning, Brewers rookie Keston Hiura hit a game-tying double in the eighth before connecting on a Craig Kimbrel curveball in the 10th for a walk-off, two-run homer. It capped a comeback that began with Yelich's 36th homer and gave the Brewers a 5-3 win over the Cubs in a second straight late-inning thriller at Miller Park. “He’s got the hitting gift,” Yelich said of the rookie. Hiura’s 19 home runs were third all-time for a Brewers rookie behind Braun (34 in 2007) and Prince Fielder (28 in '06).

8. Braun ends 18-inning marathon
May 4 vs. Mets

The Brewers might have been the last team in the Major Leagues to play an extra-inning game this season, but they sure made it worth the wait. You wouldn’t have guessed it was the National League’s bottom two pitching staffs squaring off in the longest game by innings in Miller Park’s 19 years of operation, a 4-3 Brewers win in 18 innings. The Brewers tallied 11 hits and Braun accounted for six of them, including a two-run single with one out in the bottom of the 18th that gave the 13-year veteran a new career high for hits in a game -- and gave Milwaukee the two runs it needed to overcome a Mets rally in the top half of the inning.

9. One more heist for Lo Cain
Sept. 28 at Rockies

The image of Brewers reliever Guerra standing there with a smile and his hands on his head told the story. With his ankle more heavily taped than a gift-wrap counter at Christmas and his left knee aching for weeks, Cain made two more sensational catches with the Brewers’ division hopes on the line, including a leaping grab at the center-field wall in the seventh inning that denied Colorado’s Garrett Hampson a tying home run. The Rockies rallied to win anyway, 3-2.

10. Early fireworks in Wild Card Game
Oct. 1 at Nationals

For seven-plus innings, the Brewers were in control of the NL Wild Card Game thanks to solid pitching from Brandon Woodruff, Brent Suter and Drew Pomeranz, and some early power from a pair of left-handed hitters against Max Scherzer. Free agent-to-be Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run home run for a lead before Scherzer recorded an out. An inning later, Eric Thames went deep with the bases empty to extend the lead to 3-0.