Brice Turang is not the only reason the Milwaukee Brewers lost Game 1 of the NLCS, but he was willing to take the credit afterward. Turang, a 25-year-old second baseman who had 5.5 WAR this season thanks in large part to his platinum glove-level defense, was up at the plate with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, representing the Brewers final hope.
On a 1-2 pitch, Turang dove out of the way of an inside sweeper from Dodgers relief pitcher Blake Treinen. Treinen, who had just come in for Roki Sasaki, got away with one. Had Turang taken the hit by pitch rather than moving his knee out of the way, the Brewers would've tied the game. Instead, Turang struck out on the next pitch, which was also outside the zone.
Brice Turang avoids a pitch that would've tied the game and then swings at a pitch way out of the zone to end it pic.twitter.com/JkJYyASY5D
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 14, 2025
As early as little league, the phrase 'take one for the team' makes the rounds in any dugout or clubhouse. Turang had a chance to make good on that promise, though his knee would certainly hurt in the aftermath. Instead, it was Turang's natural reaction and survival instinct that kept Treinen's breaking ball from hitting his back leg.
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What did Brice Turang, Brewers say about his near-HBP
None of the Brewers nor Turang took a moral victory from their Game 1 defeat despite nearly coming back from a two-run deficit against the Dodgers. This is a Milwaukee team accustomed to winning. They were the best team in baseball for much of the regular season. To fall on this stage hurts, just ask Turang.
"Well, if you see me look in the dugout, I’m thinking, 'Damn.' I know it. Everybody knows it. I couldn’t tell you why I did it, I just got out of the way. That’s just how it is," Turang said postgame. "There’s nothing I can do. I have to move on to the next pitch.”
Yes, you heard that right. Turang litterally looked to the dugout after failing to take the HBP and received instant regret in return. Manager Pat Murphy, for one, tried to take it easy on his young player.
"Yeah, I mean that's not an easy thing. It's a natural reaction if someone turns and makes a gesture towards you. You're going to (flinch), it's the same thing if a ball is coming towards you...it's a natural reaction. And I know that he was thinking the same thing after the ball went past him. It happens, he'll learn from that situation...Even if you try to maneuver yourself it's tough to get hit by the pitch," Murphy said, backing up the 25-year-old.
Brice Turang wasn't the reason the Brewers lost Game 1
While Turang's failure to take one on the chin will go down in the history books as the biggest gaffe of Game 1, it wasn't the only reason the Brewers lost. Milwaukee made some curious decisions which put them in that situation – down two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning – in the first place.
The most glaring of those choices was their decision to walk Shohei Ohtani with one out in the ninth inning. In doing so, Pat Murphy loaded the bases for Mookie Betts, who delivered with a run-scoring walk of his own.
“It wasn't as hard a decision as you think, because when a bag's open and you can turn it into a double-play situation [and] you've got a right-hander on the mound, you kind of have to go for that,” Murphy said. “Shohei is at least dangerous enough – struggling or not, he's dangerous enough to hit a fly ball. And you can't give up the run there. With the way we were swinging against Snell, we couldn't give up a run.”
Had Milwaukee pitched to Ohtani – who is mired in the worst postseason slump of his career – perhaps the Brewers would've only needed one run to tie. Turang's failed HBP would've had far less meaning if Milwaukee had already tied the game.