'This is How We're Going to Do It': Pat Murphy Manages More Aggressively as Brewers Continue Searching for Footing

[Jack Stern]

Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Pat Murphy took an aggressive gamble with his pitching staff on Wednesday night, the kind that blows up in a manager's face if his team loses but makes him look shrewd if it wins.

"Every call I made was great," Murphy quipped after the Brewers defeated the Chicago White Sox 6-3. "If anybody writes that, I was joking."

However, he was not joking with his willingness to deploy a rested bullpen behind a struggling Tobias Myers, who once again battled control issues in his second start since returning from the injured list. After Myers walked three and hit a batter in two innings, Murphy pulled the plug in a tie game.

There was no explanation for the quick hook when he returned to the dugout, Myers said. It wasn't necessary.

"Pretty self-explanatory," he said. "Just not commanding the zone, not throwing strikes, and just not giving the team a chance to win."

"It was more of a message to Tobias than it was anything else," Murphy explained. "I knew we had a full bullpen, but still. This is how we're going to do it, man."

It's the second instance in two series of Murphy sending a message through aggressive benchings. He pulled Sal Frelick and Caleb Durbin midgame in St. Louis on Saturday—the former for missing the cutoff man, and the latter for getting picked off first base. Wednesday was different, though. Frelick and Durbin made isolated mistakes, but Myers repeatedly failed to find the strike zone, and the Brewers stood no chance of winning if he remained in the game in that form.

So Murphy went to the bullpen, using six of his eight relievers. Many of those pitching changes occurred mid-inning. Grant Anderson inherited runners from Tyler Alexander, Nick Mears from Anderson, and Abner Uribe from Jared Koenig. It worked well enough for the Brewers to hold on, after Jake Bauers's tie-breaking double in the top of the eighth.

"The bullpen stood up," said Trevor Megill, who closed things out for his third save. "Couldn't be more proud of those guys. They did great."

Murphy deployed an aggressive style at times last year, but the way he is steering the ship now feels like a manager working earnestly to spark a roster whose wheels have been spinning for much of the season. The pitching has been inconsistent, a typically elite defense has been unimpressive, and the left side of the infield has produced little offensively.

This year's Brewers have shown flashes of the resiliency that served last season's group so well, but such moments have often been followed by a backslide. The cycle has kept Milwaukee hovering around .500 throughout the season's first month. It's been a similar story for the longest road trip of the year. With a win on Thursday, the Brewers will have gone 5-5 on the trip, but with plenty of ups and downs along the way.

"Winning games," Murphy said when asked for positives from the last week-plus. "I mean, it's still been a miserable trip in so many ways, but all close games."

The team made it through April in a decent spot, sitting a game over .500 and two behind the division-leading Cubs in the standings. But the sooner the Brewers can plug their holes and start playing more complete and consistent baseball, the better.

"Our team grinds, and I like what we have," Megill said. "Just time to keep putting the pieces together like the last two games."

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[Brewer77]

You can’t win a division in April, but you can lose one

There’s obviously no objective truth to that statement, but I think there is merit to the importance of keeping a team within striking distance. I have no problem with Murphy choosing his moments like he did last night. I think we have a clubhouse/culture built to handle those moments correctly 

[gregmag]

Jack, great article as always.  A nitpick: Durbin was picked off second in St. Louis, not first.  I remember it vividly because I was there.  Incredibly frustrating game.

[Brian]

Our hitting was non-existent against the White Sox, batting .194 in the series and .071 in the last game.

Were going to have to bump it up to .250 to even have a chance this season where the top 10 teams are. 

[BlightyBrew]

8 minutes ago, Brian said:

Our hitting was non-existent against the White Sox, batting .194 in the series and .071 in the last game.

Were going to have to bump it up to .250 to even have a chance this season where the top 10 teams are. 

Agreed.  Thought we were very lucky to win that series.