Brewers caught Mason Miller's pitch tell in the 9th and won the game

MILWAUKEE — The box score will show a blown save, a walk-off single, and a Padres team heading home down 0-2. But the real story of Game 2 might be something far more subtle, something that only shows up when you slow the tape down and squint at a pitcher's glove.

Mason Miller was untouchable in the eighth inning. He looked like the invincible flamethrower who has terrorized lineups all season. Then the ninth inning arrived, and it all unraveled.

The unraveling started with a one-out walk to Christian Yelich. That alone was a crack in the armor. But it was what Yelich did next that may have changed the entire series: he stole second base.

Suddenly, the Brewers had a runner in scoring position. More importantly, they had a direct sightline into Miller's setup. From second base, Yelich could study every nuance of Miller's delivery — the glove position, the arm angle, the tiny tells that separate a 102 mph fastball from a devastating slider.

It's entirely possible the Brewers already knew about a tell before Yelich even reached second. But having a live look from the basepaths gave them the chance to confirm it in real time.

And the evidence is there on video. A sharp-eyed observer on Twitter spotted a slight but noticeable difference in Miller's setup between his fastball and his slider. It's the kind of detail that gets dissected in the 24 hours after a crushing playoff loss.

This isn't the trash-can-banging, camera-relaying, command-center stuff that earned the Astros their infamy. This is good old-fashioned pitcher reading — the art of watching a guy for an inning and figuring out what's coming.