The Milwaukee Brewers found a way to turn a messy afternoon into their 74th win, and Pat Murphy made sure nobody missed how he felt about it.
Milwaukee beat the Minnesota Twins 4-3 in 10 innings on Sunday at American Family Field, finishing off the series with a walk-off RBI single from Jake Bauers. After the game, Murphy didn’t treat it like just another entry in the win column.
“This was in my mind the best team win in a long, long time,” the two-time National League Manager of the Year said after the game, via the Associated Press (h/t ESPN).
The Brewers opened the scoring in the first inning when Jackson Chourio went deep. Minnesota answered with a homer in the fifth to tie it at 1-1, and Milwaukee responded in the bottom of the inning with extra-base hits from Bauers and David Hamilton to reclaim the lead.
The Twins kept coming. Kody Clemens tied things again at 3-3 with a solo home run off Jacob Misiorowski in the sixth, sending the game into a back-and-forth finish before Bauers ended it in the 10th.
It wasn’t the smoothest win Milwaukee has put together, but it came with plenty of complications. Cooper Pratt was placed on the injured list Sunday because of a hamstring issue, and Joey Ortiz was scratched from the lineup with an upper-body injury.
Misiorowski also had to grind through his outing. He struck out nine Twins hitters, but he gave up three earned runs on four hits and walked one over six innings.
Milwaukee now moves straight into a three-game road series against the San Diego Padres, which begins Monday night at Petco Park in San Diego.
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If Turang needs time, Milwaukee would have to find answers quickly from elsewhere on the roster, with Jihwan Bae, David Hamilton and Joey Ortiz among the names likely to matter more. None of those options can fully replace what Turang has brought, but this is the kind of shuffle the Brewers may have to manage if they want to avoid one injury turning into a deeper infield problem. [Read more 🡒]
Jackson Chourio's Early Exit Sent Brewers Fans A Clear Message
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Pat Murphy framed the decision as part of a broader effort to keep the roster in one piece entering the postseason, especially with Brice Turang dealing with a sore thumb and William Contreras having taken a swing off the wrist. For a team that has spent much of the season valuing depth and availability, the message was clear: the Brewers would rather absorb a little awkwardness in the moment than risk something worse later. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Suddenly Face A Depth Test They Cant Escape
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Sal Frelicks absence has added to the squeeze in the outfield, where the Brewers have had to manage without one of their more reliable regulars because of a right shoulder strain. The encouraging part for Milwaukee is that help should be coming, but for now the club is still operating in survival mode as it tries to keep its season on track through a roster that keeps getting thinner before it gets whole again. [Read more 🡒]