Brewers rookie Durbin, a Chicago-area native, hits home run in 'homecoming' at Wrigley Field
CHICAGO (AP) — Milwaukee Brewers infielder Caleb Durbin was able to thrill — and upset — a group of family and friends at Wrigley Field with one swing of the bat on Thursday.
The 25-year-old rookie from the Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, Illinois, hit a two-run homer in the second inning that put Milwaukee ahead en route to an 8-7 win over the Cubs. He connected in his second game at the North Side ballpark and fifth in Chicago, following three against the White Sox earlier this season.
Advertisement
While Durbin's relatives and old high school pals were rooting for him, many also were pulling for the Cubs.
'They joke around, like 'Hey come on now,' " Durbin said. 'But yeah, it's a lot of fun knowing that I have family and friends that are, you know, pretty diehard Cubs fans who are here.'
Durbin's drive off Jameson Taillon reached the left-center bleachers and gave the Brewers a 4-2 lead.
Durbin has played in 54 games this season, 50 at third base. He's hitting .216 with three homers and 24 RBIs after taking a backdoor route to the major leagues.
Durbin was on the baseball, football and wrestling teams at Lake Forest High School, then went on to play NCAA Division III baseball at Washington University in St. Louis. At 5-foot-7 and 183 pounds, he has a wrestler's build — and tenacity.
Advertisement
'He's sure as hell low enough to the ground," manager Pat Murphy said. "Makes sense. I didn't think he was a long jumper.'
Over his last 23 games Durbin his batting .269, boosting his average from .169 on May 20.
"He's getting comfortable and he's getting confident," Murphy said. "He knows what he has to do and he's just a tenacious competitor, and no situation is going to be too big for him. He's resilient. He's relentless.'
Durbin said Washington University's baseball program is underrated, but made it to the NCAA Division III baseball tournament in 2021 when he was a junior.
Advertisement
'The top D3 programs are good baseball, maybe not the same as top D1 programs, but we were a competitive team,' Durbin said. 'Then I was able to get a chance post-college to keep playing.'
Durbin worked his way up from the bottom of the minor leagues, eventually reaching Triple-A in 2024. Drafted by Atlanta in 2021, he was traded to the Yankees in 2022. Durbin came to the Brewers along with left-hander Nestor Cortes in a December 2024 deal that sent closer Devin Williams to New York.
'I was just trying to chip away to get a shot at the bigs,' Durbin said. 'And then you get to the big leagues and it's the same thing, you're chipping away to win.'
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jonquel Jones returns to the Liberty lineup, leads team scoring in win over Fever
NEW YORK (AP) — During the Liberty's lineup announcement Tuesday night, one name brought the Barclays Center crowd to its feet: Jonquel Jones. She held up a heart to the crowd. In the words of head coach Sandy Brondello — 'It's a happy day. JJ's back.' The Liberty star center officially returned to the court in New York's 98-84 win over the Fever on Tuesday night. Jones, last season's WNBA Finals MVP, was playing for the first time since June 19 with an ankle injury and scored a team-high 18 points. 'It felt great to be back out there,' Jones said after the game. 'Obviously, it's been a while since I've been on the court, but my teammates have held it down while I was out, and everybody was excited for me to be back in. And I was just as excited.' Jones, the Liberty's third-highest scorer, has averaged 12.1 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists this season, while shooting 43.8 percent from behind the arc. New York struggled in her absence, going 5-4 after starting out the season 9-0. They are undefeated with Jones on the court. It's been a touch-and-go season for Jones so far. She'd been limited to just 10 games this season, initially injuring her ankle in early June and taking a brief absence before returning and aggravating the injury. ___ AP WNBA:
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Lakers have officially signed guard Marcus Smart
The Los Angeles Lakers made another significant addition to their roster over the weekend when veteran guard Marcus Smart agreed to sign with them following a contract buyout. He had been traded to the Washington Wizards in February, and he was set to make $21.6 million this coming season. He has cleared waivers, allowing the Lakers to officially sign him on Tuesday to a two-year, $11 million contract. He will wear jersey No. 36 for the team. The franchise issued a press release regarding Smart's official addition to its roster. 'Adding a player like Marcus Smart to our roster allows us to compete at the highest level,' Lakers President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Rob Pelinka said. 'Marcus epitomizes what it means to prioritize winning above all else – whether that's making huge plays on the defensive end or hitting critical shots in key moments of the most intense games. He knows and understands playoff winning and will be a key leadership voice in our group. Surrounding our stars with two-way players like Marcus is critical to our overall vision of how we want to play and win next season. This is an exciting player acquisition, for sure.' Smart, 31, was named the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year for the 2021-22 season and has been named to the All-Defensive first team three times. He has long been one of the league's best backcourt defenders, and he has the ability to effectively guard both small guards and taller wing players. The former Boston Celtic has career averages of 10.6 points, 4.6 assists and 1.6 steals over 11 seasons in the NBA. This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers have officially signed guard Marcus Smart
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Mets' Frankie Montas confident with progress, pitch movement after longest outing of season
Frankie Montas fell just short of becoming the second Mets starter to complete an outing of six-plus innings over the last month, but that's neither here nor there. His job was to keep the game close, and that task was accomplished. While the veteran right-hander's performance didn't include style points, it was still a winning effort, as his 5.2 frames of two-run ball with a season-best six strikeouts helped the Mets rally to a 3-2 win over the Angels on Tuesday night at Citi Field. "I threw some good splitters, good sweepers, good sliders. I thought I had a nice amount of pitches working tonight," Montas said after the game. "I feel pretty good. I would've loved to finish the sixth inning, though. But step by step, I definitely feel better and better every time I step on the mound. I feel like my pitches are moving better. "I'm getting more movement, more strikes. I keep making progress every start... The first two innings, I thought I was missing my location. I tried to throw my pitches in a better spot after that. Things were working better after that." Montas flirted with trouble from the jump, allowing a first-inning double and then a single to Mike Trout that fortunately resulted in Nolan Schanuel being tagged out on a bang-bang play at the plate. In the second, he surrendered a two-out, no-doubt solo homer to Jorge Soler that broke the ice, and Schanuel managed to get some revenge with an RBI double in the fifth that bumped the Angels' lead to 2-0. But Montas retired eight straight batters at one point, and although he left the mound trailing with eight hits allowed, he ultimately earned his third win of the campaign with a boost from the Mets' bats. "I thought he was good. I thought the secondary pitches were good," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of Montas. "He used all of them in the strike zone, expanded when he needed to. He's got to be able to compete in the strike zone with the secondaries -- whether it's the split, the slider, the sweeper. The cutter elevated against a couple of lefties. "The other good sign for me was, he was able to reach 97 [mph] in that sixth inning to get Soler for strike three in the top of the zone. That's a good sign. For him to reach there at 90 pitches, it was really good to see. So, a very good outing and very good step for him." Montas, who threw 58 of a season-high 91 pitches for strikes, now owns a 4.62 ERA and 1.30 WHIP (five starts) since coming off the injured list in late June. He also has a strikeout-walk ratio of 23-to-6 across 25.1 innings, and his reliability will be put to the test next week in a scheduled road matchup with the Padres.
