The Brewers needed two swings and five relievers to survive Game 1.

Milwaukee beat San Diego 3-2 on Saturday to take Game 1 of the National League Division Series. The Padres built a 2-0 lead in the second inning, but Jackson Chourio's two-run home run in the third erased it. William Contreras broke the tie with a solo homer in the seventh. Those two swings supplied every Brewers run.

That is a notable route for a club that hit the fewest home runs in the National League during the regular season, according to MLB's game account. It does not mean Milwaukee has become a power-first offense overnight. It means the lineup found a different way to win a tight postseason game when its run prevention and situational hitting left little margin.

A lead built with two very different home runs

Contreras' seventh-inning shot came off left-hander Adrian Morejon, who had allowed only four home runs in 86 regular-season innings. It was the decisive swing, but Chourio's earlier answer mattered just as much: without the two-run tie, Contreras' homer would only have narrowed a deficit. Chourio's blast was his fifth career postseason home run, a Brewers franchise high, according to MLB.

Milwaukee's starter Jacob Misiorowski recorded only 12 outs. Five relievers covered the final 15, with DL Hall navigating a bases-loaded seventh-inning jam and Trevor Megill closing the ninth. The bullpen's workload is part of the Game 2 question, not a detail to hide behind the final score. Milwaukee won its opener while asking a lot of the arms it may need again soon.

The bullpen carried the other five innings

The ninth also produced a strange, consequential play. A high fly ball by Ty France struck a roof truss and changed direction into Chourio's glove, according to MLB's account. It was an out, not a separate run or a judgment about which team deserved to win. Milwaukee holds a 1-0 series lead. Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday at 4 p.m. Eastern, and the Brewers have the chance to turn one narrow home victory into a stronger series position.