NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERS

October 14, 2025

Pat Murphy

American Family Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Dodgers - 5, Brewers - 1

Q. Just the way that Snell and Yamamoto have been able to be in complete control and kind of dictate the at-bats, the duration of the game, what have you seen, specifically tonight?

PAT MURPHY: They were both great. Both those pitchers were as dominant as two pitchers have been.

We chased way more than we've chased all year. We've been the best in baseball at not chasing. These pitchers brought out the worst in us.

If I would have told you that the Dodgers were going to score seven runs in two games, and what was the outcome in the first two games, I'd say there's a chance we win one of them for sure.

Our pitching is beat up. You know that. It was an emotional series with the Cubs. And then our pitching has been -- we weren't as sharp, but I thought Freddy pitched well. And I thought Ashby came in did a great job. Gasser came in did a great job. Anderson came in and did a great job. We had some good performances.

But offensively you've got to grind out at-bats. That's been our forte. The ball strike has been really at the core of our offensive success, and sometimes great pitching brings out the worst in you.

Q. Did Freddy convince you to stay in the sixth? Was that a tough division?

PAT MURPHY: No, he was throwing the ball great. He gave up one pitch in the sixth. He gave up a homer to Muncy on a 3-2 pitch, missed the spot. Muncy has the most home runs in Dodger history in the postseason. He's a very talented guy that's seen Freddy a bunch.

But that wasn't the difference in the game. He went out there and did the job.

Q. What is your pitching plan for Game 3, whether it's Quintana or otherwise? More generally, having used as many guys as you had to, how did you feel about your staff overall?

PAT MURPHY: It's like anything else. If you're trying to go for it and win it all, because it's a three-run game or a four-run game, you're still trying to win. So anything can happen.

So, We use six guys. And we used a lot of guys in the five-game series against the Cubs.

We're more depleted than the Dodgers are. But none of that matters. It's about playing whenever we play them -- Thursday. It's about playing Thursday. Everybody will be available, with the exception of Freddy. And we'll attack them.

Q. [Inaudible]?

PAT MURPHY: Most likely he'll pitch. We've got some options there.

Q. Given the way postseason baseball has played in recent years, how surprising was it to you to see two starters pitching in the eighth and ninth inning of playoff games two days in a row, and what does that mean?

PAT MURPHY: That's a good question. When they're that good, it is surprising, but they're that good. And they were dominant, both guys were dominant for 17 innings.

And so hats off to those two guys. They deserve all the credit. They really do. They deserve all the credit.

And that catcher, Smith, deserves a ton of credit, because he was right with them, in tune in the game and very impressive. Those 17 innings were as good as I've seen.

The one thing is you guys might have us counted out. And I understand that. 90 percent of the teams that have been in this situation don't win the series. But this team has been counted out a lot this year. And I think there's some fight left in them.

It will be a little tougher path doing it on the round, but we swept Dodgers earlier in the year on the road. So at least there's some capability. I know the Dodgers weren't the same team then.

But 10 times this year we've won four in a row so that's also a possibility.

I still like our team. I know we didn't swing the bat the last two days. But I don't think a lot of teams would have crushed those two guys the last two days. But we could do better.

Q. Snell obviously went heavy on the change-ups yesterday. And Yamamoto, he's got a deep mix, but a lot of the off-speed, kind of hiding the fastball to a degree, do you feel that's a concerted effort from them to counter the aggressiveness that you guys typically have on fastballs in the zone?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, I mean the difference is the quality of the off-speed. This guy's split looks like a heater. Comes out of the same tunnel. It looks exactly the same. He's got an impeccable delivery. He doesn't miss a lot. And the ball shows up as a heater -- bang, goes down. And his heater shows up as a heater and then rises. So it's pretty impressive.

But you have to battle, foul up pitches, run his pitch count, do whatever they have to do. And it's been put in our face now for two days, two great performances. But that doesn't mean the series is over.

Q. When Jackson takes out the first pitch, you've got to think there's something good, the building's live. How quickly did it feel like that came back down, and was that a part of it, that Yamamoto just kind of got right back to business and took it out --

PAT MURPHY: You know what's funny? I'd like to do a study -- I have no idea what the answer is -- but in my experience when you lead off with a home run in the game, it doesn't ensure anything, you know what I mean? I bet you the record isn't as good.

The Cubs did it to us how many times, twice? And lost both those games -- or did they win one of them. I'd bet you to willing to say it could be kind of a curse, not that anyone would take it.

The building was live. The crowd was great. The last two days the crowd was great. They're disappointed. They think it's over, probably. 90 percent of the teams that are 0-2 at home don't come back.

But I don't think it's over. I don't know why. I admire this team. I've said it all along. I like who they are. I know where they came from. And I don't think they'll be surprised if they come back and play really well.

Q. With Yelich, I think he's oh for his last 17 since Game 3, what do you have to do get him going with how important he is?

PAT MURPHY: Yelly's a 12-year veteran. He knows how to play this game. He's getting pitched really, really tough. They're very aware of his abilities. Hit 29 homers this year. Drove in over 100 runs.

That's a really small sample size. I know it's critical because it's now, but I'm not worried that Yelly won't respond.