MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio has gone through some adversity this season as the 21-year-old tries to follow up a standout rookie year.
The game-saving catch he made Sunday might just be the spark he needs.
Chourio raced to his right, reached his gloved hand over the wall in left-center field and robbed Royce Lewis of a potential tying homer in the eighth inning of the Brewers’ 5-2 victory that snapped the Minnesota Twins’ 13-game winning streak.
“That’s the first home-run robbery I’ve ever had,” said Chourio, who indicated through an interpreter that he hadn’t even accomplished that feat during his meteoric run through the minor leagues. “Just to be able to show the ability to do that, I’m happy about that.”
Chourio played center field in the minors but typically was a corner outfielder last year, when he batted .275 with 21 homers and 79 RBIs to finish third in the NL rookie of the year balloting. His big season came after he signed an eight-year, $82 million contract, the largest given to a player without any major league experience.
He has played center more often this year because of injuries to Blake Perkins and Garrett Mitchell. It hasn’t been an entirely smooth transition.
Chourio committed his first error in the majors on May 9 as Tampa Bay’s José Caballero hit a single that got past him, enabling Taylor Walls to score from first and Caballero to end up on third in a game the Brewers lost 4-3.
Three nights later, Chourio misplayed a drive from Cleveland’s Gabriel Arias and allowed the ball to go over his left shoulder, resulting in a three-run double that opened the scoring in a 5-0 defeat.
He came through on Sunday, helping the Brewers get a needed win after they were shut out four times in a five-game stretch.
“Mistakes that happened in the past are mistakes,” Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta said. “As a player, you should just work and get better, and then you can do something big in the next couple of days. That’s exactly what happened. Today, he saved the game.”
The Twins trailed 4-2 and had a runner on second when Chourio made his remarkable play, prompting Lewis to tip his helmet on the way to the dugout.
“If he doesn’t catch that, I think we win the game for sure,” Lewis said.
Chourio also showed he isn’t letting his struggles at the plate carry over to the field.
He’s hitless in his last 18 at-bats and had grounded out just before the catch. Chourio is batting .242 with a .260 on-base percentage, seven homers, 25 RBIs and just four walks. That’s not the type of start that was expected of Chourio after he closed his rookie season by hitting .455 with two homers in the Brewers’ NL wild card series loss to the New York Mets.
He continues to come through in big moments — this time with his glove.
“For him to come up with that is pretty darn special and shows you what we’ve got,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s 21 years old and going through the ups and downs of being in the big leagues, the pressure, everything that’s been put on him. And for him to do that, it just goes to show you. That’s huge.”
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The Milwaukee Brewers bullpen, top, reacts to teammate Jackson Chourio, bottom right, making a catch at the wall during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
The Milwaukee Brewers bullpen, top, reacts to teammate Jackson Chourio, bottom right, making a catch at the wall during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio catches a ball hit by Minnesota Twins' Royce Lewis during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
SYDNEY (AP) — Two gunmen attacked a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday, killing at least 11 people in what Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation.
The massacre at one of Australia’s most popular and iconic beaches followed a wave of antisemitic attacks that have roiled the country over the past year, although the authorities didn’t suggest those episodes and Sunday’s shooting were connected. It is the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws.
One gunman was fatally shot by police and the second, who was arrested, was in critical condition, authorities said. Police said one of the gunmen was known to the security services, but that there had been no specific threat.
At least 29 people were confirmed wounded, including two police officers, said Mal Lanyon, the police commissioner for New South Wales state, where Sydney is located.
Police said officers were examining a number of suspicious items, including several improvised explosive devices found in one of the suspect’s cars.
“This attack was designed to target Sydney's Jewish community,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said. He said it was declared a terrorist attack due to the event targeted and weapons used.
The violence erupted at the end of a hot summer day when thousands had flocked to Bondi Beach, including hundreds who had gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea event celebrating the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival.
Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that runs outreach centers around the world and sponsors public events during major Jewish holidays, identified one of the dead as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and a key organizer of the event.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen, but gave no further details.
Police said emergency services were called to Campbell Parade in Bondi about 6:45 p.m. responding to reports of shots being fired. Video footage filmed by onlookers showed people in bathing suits running from the water as shots rang out. Separate footage appeared to show two men with long guns firing from a footbridge leading to the beach.
One dramatic clip broadcast on Australian television showed a man appearing to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, before pointing the man’s weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground.
Minns called the unidentified man a “genuine hero.”
Lachlan Moran, 32, from Melbourne, told The Associated Press he was waiting for his family nearby when he heard shots. He dropped the beer he was carrying and ran.
“You heard a few pops, and I freaked out and ran away. ... I started sprinting. I just had that intuition. I sprinted as quickly as I could," Moran said. He said he heard shooting off and on for about five minutes.
“Everyone just dropped all their possessions and everything and were running and people were crying and it was just horrible," Moran said.
Local resident Catherine Merchant said “it was the most perfect day and then this happened.
“Everyone was just running and there were bullets and there were so many of them and we were really scared,” she told Australia’s ABC News.
Albanese told reporters in the Australian capital, Canberra, that he was “devastated” by the massacre.
“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith. An act of evil, antisemitism, terrorism that has struck the heart of our nation,” Albanese said.
He vowed that the violence would be met with “a moment of national unity where Australians across the board will embrace their fellow Australians of Jewish faith.”
King Charles III said he and Queen Camilla were “appalled and saddened by the most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack.”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on X that he was horrified, and his “heart is with the Jewish community worldwide.” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the “ghastly terrorist attack.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was being updated on the “appalling attack.” Police in London said they would step up security at Jewish sites.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X that “the United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Australia targeting a Jewish celebration. Antisemitism has no place in this world.”
Australia, a country of 28 million people, is home to about 117,000 Jews, according to official figures. Antisemitic incidents, including assaults, vandalism, threats and intimidation, surged more than threefold in the country during the year after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel launched a war on Hamas in Gaza in response, the government's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal reported in July.
Throughout last summer, the country was rocked by a spate of antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars were torched, businesses and homes graffitied and Jews attacked in those cities, where 85% of the nation’s Jewish population lives.
Albanese in August blamed Iran for two of the attacks and cut diplomatic ties to Tehran. The authorities didn't make such claims about Sunday's massacre.
Israel urged Australia's government to address crimes targeting Jews. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he warned Australia’s leaders months ago in a letter about the dangers of failing to take action against antisemitism. He claimed Australia's decision — in line with scores of other countries — to recognize a Palestinian state “pours fuel on the antisemitic fire.”
“Your government did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia ... and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today,” Netanyahu said.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Australia's government should "fight against the enormous wave of antisemitism which is plaguing Australian society.”
Mass shootings in Australia are extremely rare. A 1996 massacre in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, where a lone gunman killed 35 people, prompted the government to drastically tighten gun laws and made it much more difficult for Australians to acquire firearms.
Significant mass shootings this century included two murder-suicides with death tolls of five people in 2014, and seven in 2018, in which gunmen killed their own families and themselves.
In 2022, six people were killed in a shootout between police and Christian extremists at a rural property in Queensland state.
McGuirk reported from Melbourne, Australia, and Graham-McLay from Wellington, New Zealand. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
A small Christmas tree is at the center of an abandoned holiday picnic at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Bystanders stay where police cordon off an area at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers standby at Bondi Beach after a reported shooting in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Emergency workers transport a person on a stretcher after a reported shooting at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
