When the Brewers’ 2026 season gets turned into a movie, the bottom of the 10th inning on Tuesday already has a scene-stealer.
Luis Lara, a young hitter with a grin that told the whole story before he even stepped in, became the center of a moment that looked ripped from a script. Pat Murphy walked to the on-deck circle with coach Nestor Corredor, said what he needed to say, and Lara headed to the plate smiling. Minutes later, he floated a base hit over the third baseman, and Milwaukee had a 4-3 win over the Cubs.
The play capped a wild night that was already packed with highlight material. Jacob Misiorowski had his 104 mph fastball back.
Christian Yelich kept the inning alive with a single when the Brewers were down to their final strike. Jackson Chourio stared into the Cubs’ dugout before launching a tying two-run homer.
Garrett Mitchell also saved a run in the top of the 10th with a strong throw to third base.
Then came the final act. Sal Frelick’s bloop single dropped into left field with one out in the 10th, and the game paused while the Cubs checked on shortstop Nico Hoerner.
That set the stage for Murphy’s brief exchange with Lara, a moment captured by Brewers.tv and quickly labeled “movie-like” by MLB’s social team. Another account called it “real life Ted Lasso.”
Both descriptions fit.
After the game, Lara explained the conversation simply.
"He asked me if I was ready,” Lara said. “He told me he believed in me 100 percent."
Murphy, asked about it Wednesday afternoon, pushed the spotlight away from himself.
“I really don’t think that conversation mattered,” he said. “To be honest, it was probably more for me, to feel like I was participating, I guess.
I don’t think he was affected by that at all. I just think he’s a young kid who cares and wants to do that.
I’m just blessed and grateful for all those times you get to be part of a winning team.”
And when asked whether he’d take any credit, Murphy stayed in the same lane.
“When you have a good team,” Murphy said, “it makes the manager’s moves look right.”
The win tightened Milwaukee’s grip on the NL Central, but it also added another entry to a season already stacked with scenes that feel tailor-made for the big screen. There was Misiorowski striking out the first 11 of the 20 Brewers pitchers piled up on Opening Day, a total that tied the modern record for a nine-inning game.
There were the back-to-back walk-off wins over the Yankees in May, finished off by Brice Turang’s Mother’s Day homer with a pink bat. There was Misiorowski’s 15-strikeout complete-game one-hit shutout against the Phillies on June 13, a performance that might be the best ever by a Brewers pitcher.
And there was June 26 against the Cubs, when Misiorowski hit 105.5 mph to Pete Crow-Armstrong and William Contreras and Chourio helped carry a Brewers win with Venezuela on their minds as their homeland dug out from a massive earthquake.
Tuesday night belonged to Lara, though. In a season that keeps finding ways to look cinematic, he got the closing shot.
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