The Brewers found a way to turn a sloppy, frustrating night into another win, and that’s been the story of their season in a nutshell.
Tuesday night in Chicago opened with a sequence that could have easily swung the game the other way. In the top of the fourth, Jackson Chourio got picked off trying to steal third with one out, a move that was supposed to help set up the first run of the night.
Instead, Cubs catcher Carson Kelly got the throw in and third baseman Alex Bregman finished the tag. Brice Turang, the trailing runner, stayed at first base, so the Brewers came away with nothing and the inning soon ended.
Pat Murphy had plenty more to grind his teeth over an inning later. Robert Gasser walked Seiya Suzuki to begin the bottom of the fourth, then Bregman chopped a soft bouncer to Gasser’s left that neither he nor Andrew Vaughn could get to in time.
That put two runners on with nobody out, even though Chicago hadn’t really squared anything up. Tyrone Taylor made the most of it with a two-run double into the left-field corner.
Then Nico Hoerner rolled a more ordinary grounder toward first, Vaughn made a nice play ranging to his right, but Gasser had trouble getting to the bag and settling down for the throw. Vaughn’s toss hit Gasser’s glove, Hoerner was safe on the error, and Taylor scored again.
Gasser steadied himself and limited the damage after that, but Murphy’s frustration had another chance to flare in the fifth. With two outs and nobody aboard, Luis Lara lined one down the left-field line.
It should have been a double, especially with Lara’s speed, but he never took the extra base and stayed at first. That left the Brewers still looking for their first run instead of having a man in scoring position.
Then the Brewers did what they’ve done so often this year: they cleaned up their own mess and took control anyway. Joey Ortiz and Cooper Pratt followed with the back-to-back hits needed to bring Lara home.
The big breakthrough came in the sixth, when two balls that could have been outs turned into a single and a double to start the inning, and a fly ball down the right-field line wasn’t caught. That sequence chased Matthew Boyd, tied the game, and put the go-ahead run in scoring position.
Christian Yelich then jumped on a Daniel Palencia slider, and the Brewers had the lead for good.
Murphy has spent this season holding players accountable when he thinks they’ve slipped, including Turang, Ortiz, Pratt, Gasser, David Hamilton, Brandon Sproat, Shane Drohan and others. He’s taken heat for some of those decisions, but the reasoning goes back to what he said in spring training: this is the most talented team he has managed since arriving in 2024, and it still isn’t matching that ceiling on a consistent basis.
The issue, in Murphy’s view, isn’t effort. It’s the little lapses - the dropped intensity, the moments when focus drifts.
For a roster still learning day by day how opponents attack, how to make adjustments, and how to stay locked in for nine innings, those half-second mistakes can wreck an inning fast. Murphy has handled that grind well, but the cracks still show.
And that’s what makes this team so intriguing. Turang, Chourio, Contreras, Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell have all flashed superstar-level play at times.
Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison front what might be the deepest and best pitching staff of Murphy’s tenure. The record backs it up, too: by run differential and by wins and losses, this is the best team in baseball.
Still, Murphy’s sharp edge makes sense if you’ve watched the whole thing unfold. As he told one local TV reporter earlier this year, with a smile, when asked how good it must feel to be rolling through the league: "Have you watched us play?"
He’s not saying the Brewers have been lucky. He’s saying they’ve left a lot on the table. And if they want to avoid another October letdown, they’re going to have to play a lot closer to their ceiling than they have for long stretches so far.
In Other News...
Brewers Bullpen Turnover Takes Another Interesting Late-Season Turn
The Brewers bullpen shuffle picked up another wrinkle this week when right-hander Joel Kuhnel was claimed off waivers by the Giants. Kuhnel had worked for both the Athletics and Milwaukee this season, logging 35 appearances overall and giving the Brewers a veteran arm who could be deployed in a variety of relief spots as the season wore on.
San Francisco is bringing him in with a clear immediate role in low-leverage situations, but the move also gives Kuhnel a chance to stick beyond the final stretch if he handles it well. For Milwaukee, it is another reminder of how quickly late-season relief depth can turn over, especially when clubs are constantly trying to find usable innings without losing flexibility elsewhere on the roster. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Fans Have Real Reason To Worry About Jacob Misiorowski
Jacob Misiorowskis last few outings have given Brewers fans something to monitor closely, and not just because hitters have started to make more contact. The hard-throwing right-hander has seen his fastball velocity dip while leaning more on his secondary pitches, a notable shift for a pitcher whose power arm has long been the calling card. Even after the rough outing at Wrigley Field, where he was hit hard, Misiorowski pointed to the weather and the difficulty of getting a good grip and footing on the mound as part of the problem.
The broader concern is that this might be less about one bad day and more about the grind of his first full major league season beginning to show. Pitchers often need time to adjust to the workload, and for a young arm like Misiorowskis, that adjustment can come with some visible wear. Milwaukee does not need to panic, but it does need to keep an eye on whether the velocity trend and heavier reliance on off-speed stuff are signs of fatigue or just a temporary dip in form. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Just Took A Quiet Bullpen Hit After The Cubs Series
The Brewers bullpen depth took a small hit after their series with the Cubs, with right-hander Joel Kuhnel being claimed off waivers by the Giants. Kuhnel had been working his way back through a minor league rehab assignment before Milwaukee designated him for assignment, and the move opens another spot in a relief group that has already had to stay flexible as the season wears on.
San Francisco is bringing Kuhnel in for the rest of the year as an extra arm, and the Brewers now have to sort through the ripple effect of losing a pitcher who was at least in the mix. He had a 4.84 ERA with 22 strikeouts this season, but for Milwaukee the bigger issue is less the numbers than the fact that another depth option is gone at a time when every bullpen inning matters. [Read more 🡒]