Sporting new number for dad, Turang leads Crew's onslaught

MILWAUKEE -- Brice Turang looked good in his new uniform on Thursday night, and his wasn’t the only number of note.

After playing with No. 0 on his back for his first four-plus months in the Majors, Turang switched to No. 2 on Thursday and combined with fellow rookies Sal Frelick, Andruw Monasterio and Joey Wiemer for nine hits and nine RBIs in the Brewers’ breakout 14-1 win over the Pirates at American Family Field.

Turang and Frelick each smashed a three-run home run and combined for eight of those RBIs on a night Milwaukee matched its previous season-high for runs (11) with Frelick’s homer in the sixth inning and matched its season-high for hits (16) with Turang’s single in the eighth. The 13-run margin of victory was the Brewers’ largest since their 19-2 win in Pittsburgh on July 1, 2022. It was a good night for Milwaukee’s run differential (up to -2 on the season) and an even better night in the standings, as the Brewers pushed past the Reds to get back into first place in the National League Central by a half-game.

All that from a team that hadn’t enjoyed a lead of more than three runs at any point during its previous 12 games.

“It’s always fun to watch guys perform and our pitching shut them down,” said Turang. “It was just all together a team win.”

The Brewers needed one of those coming off a 1-5 road trip -- despite some better days at the plate for its defense-first second baseman. While matching his career high with three hits against the Pirates, Turang improved to 11-for-26 (.423) over his past eight games, with multiple hits in four of those contests.

“That’s the Brice I played with last year,” said Frelick, a former Triple-A teammate who did his own damage Thursday with a go-ahead, two-run double in the first inning and two walks before his three-run homer in the sixth for a five-RBI night.

“It’s a tough league, and your introduction to it is challenging,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “You face some failure, and you’ve got to get through it. And [Turang] has faced it. He’s dealt with it. He’s continued to play spectacular defense. And hopefully, the way he’s carried himself and his attitude about it is paying off right now.”

It was a sentimental night for the 23-year-old Turang, whose number change has been a long time coming. The proof resides on Turang’s left shoulder: a tattoo of his father, Brian, wearing the No. 1 he sported with the Mariners in 1993 and ‘94. Next to him is Brice wearing No. 2.

“Two is definitely a number that means a lot to me,” Brice said. “And the Brewers got it done.”

As a kid in Corona, Calif., outside Los Angeles, Turang was assigned No. 13, and it stuck with him. He liked that if you connected the numbers, it formed a capital letter B. But as he grew older and learned more about his dad’s own career in professional baseball, Turang connected with No. 1.

How great would it be, he thought, to honor his dad by wearing that number in pro ball?

That idea hit a snag, however, when Brice was drafted into pro ball as Milwaukee’s first-round pick in 2018. The Brewers retired No. 1 at the end of 2014 to honor their founder, Bud Selig, who was nearing retirement after 22 years as MLB Commissioner.

So Turang adopted No. 2.

“I thought it was cool that my dad was in the big leagues and he could be No. 1 and I’ll follow him and be No. 2,” Turang said.

He liked the idea so much that in 2019, he got the tattoo on his shoulder.

Turang wore No. 2 in the Minors as he inched closer to the Majors, but now there was another snag. In Milwaukee, No. 2 belonged to Luis Urías, who actually preferred No. 3 but couldn’t have it because it belonged to Orlando Arcia when Urías was traded from the Padres to the Brewers in 2019. Urías wore No. 9 in San Diego, but that was Manny Piña’s in Milwaukee.

If you’re wondering who could possibly keep track of all of this, it’s Jason Shawger, the Brewers’ longtime equipment manager and a master of the small details. Knowing that Urías always liked No. 3, a plan was hatched to switch him to No. 3 and Turang to No. 2 next season.

But when Urías was dealt to the Red Sox at the last minute before Tuesday’s Trade Deadline, Shawger asked Turang if he wanted to move up the timeline. The master of details had already cleared it with MLB and the Brewers, and he had even phoned Urías, who’d been playing at Triple-A Nashville.

Urías, knowing how much No. 2 would mean to Turang, was all for it.

And so was Turang.

Is he superstitious enough to attribute Thursday’s performance to the new number?

“No,” Turang said with a smile. “Just hard work, man.”