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.

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.

“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.

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“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.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb