The latest stop on the San Diego State Aztecs' homecoming tour following their run to the NCAA Tournament championship game was Petco Park Thursday night, where Final Four hero Lamont Butler and longtime coach Brian Dutcher threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
"It was good, I think I got a strike," Butler told the media.
"I watched him warm up and that was a major accomplishment. He was all over the place in warmups," Dutcher quipped.
The pitch followed a replay of Butler's iconic buzzer-beating jumper that propelled SDSU past Florida Atlantic University in the Final Four and into the title game. It surely wasn't the first time Butler has seen the highlight, but he probably hasn't watched it alongside 40,000 people.
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"That was lovely. That was lovely," Butler said about his shot played out on the jumbotron. "I got a couple chills just watching it again and having everyone celebrate it again. It was a historic movement, I was just glad I was able to do it for the city."
After the Aztecs left the field and the Padres took it, the professional ballplayers couldn't quite keep the magic going. A back-and-forth game ended in a 4-3 Brewers win helped by a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the top of the tenth inning.
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Rowdy Tellez's sac fly brought in Christian Yelich, who began the inning as the automatic runner on second base and advanced when he and Willy Adames pulled off a double steal. Adames drew a leadoff walk off Luis Garcia (0-2).
San Diego's Trent Grisham hit a tying, two-run homer with two outs in the eighth off Matt Bush, who played at Mission Bay High before his hometown Padres made him the No. 1 pick overall in the 2004 draft. Bush was trying to protect a 3-1 lead and got two quick outs before walking pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter and then serving up Grisham's shot to right-center, his fourth.
Devin Williams (2-0) struck out Juan Soto, Xavier Bogaerts and Nelson Cruz in the ninth.
Joel Payamps pitched the 10th for his first career save, striking out Luis Campusano with runners on first and second to end it.
Former Padres right-hander Colin Rea had shut down his old team in a spot start while being backed by homers from Tellez and Mike Brosseau.
Rea, whose contract was selected from Triple-A Nashville earlier Thursday, held San Diego to two hits in 5 2/3 innings and struck out six while walking one. The 32-year-old, who pitched in Japan last season, played for the Padres in parts of 2015 and 2016. He hadn't made a start in the big leagues since 2020 with the Chicago Cubs.
“To give us 17 outs in 5 2/3, it's a great performance for sure,” manager Craig Counsell said. “I couldn't ask for anything more. I thought he was wonderful and he gave us a real chance to win.”
Rea allowed Manny Machado's first home run of the season, an opposite-field shot to right with one out in the first, and then a two-out single to Xander Bogaerts. Rea allowed only one baserunner after that when he opened the third by walking Austin Nola, who was erased by an inning-ending double play.
“I was just glad I didn't go over to the other dugout after the first inning. That's all I thought about the last couple of days,” Rea said. “It's always good to be back here. It's always a good place to pitch and a good atmosphere.”
The Padres' roster has turned over completely since Rea was here.
“It's a different team," Rea said. “That was my first time facing a lot of those guys so they'd never seen me before. It was good.”
Tellez hit a two-run homer deep into the home run porch down the right-field line with one out in the first off Nick Martinez, and Brosseau had a leadoff shot to straightaway center in the fifth. It was Tellez's third and Brosseau's second. In the 2020 AL playoff bubble at Petco Park, Brosseau hit a go-ahead homer off Aroldis Chapman that helped the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees and advance to the AL Championship Series.
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