NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERS

October 12, 2026

Pat Murphy

American Family Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Brewers - 7, Dodgers - 4

Q. There were so many big moments in that game tonight obviously. Could you kind of walk us through what you saw in Bauers' at-bat against Yamamoto there and how big that was?

PAT MURPHY: That changes the game. We've seen him do that before. You were here, I'm sure. Yeah, it was a huge at-bat. How many pitches? 12-pitch walk? It took seven minutes, somebody told me.

Yeah, you think about that and what it does to a pitcher. He can get through an inning in less than seven minutes, and he does all the time. He's one of the best pitchers in the land. It was a great at-bat. I think a turning point, I really do.

Q. What does it feel like going to L.A. up 2-0 knowing only a couple teams have come up from that deficit?

PAT MURPHY: I respect the Dodgers a great deal. That's all there is to it. They're arguably one of the best teams ever put together. They're a great team.

And I'm not going to think about anything but the next game. That's it. Just one inning, one pitch at a time. Don't look ahead. Don't plan. Don't complain, explain; just keep going.

Hopefully the guys will get a break. Long flight tonight, get a break tomorrow and do a little workout, keep your body moving and then ready to play the next game like it's their last.

Q. As you looked at the final three innings, what were the different decision points you had about trying to avoid Megill and trying to extend Uribe, Ashby more than anything?

PAT MURPHY: I felt like we were just going to read it. Jimmy Henderson and I, kind of that's our department. We disagreed the whole time, go back and forth like usual. We have now -- how many postseason games has it been? Six. We haven't been on the same page yet.

But I'm so thankful for him because we just keep putting our heads together. You know, decision point, who do you want to face who? In this situation with runners on base, who's throwing strikes? Familiarity in a seven-game series. Do you want them to see this guy again? Ashby's going good. All those things came into it.

Uribe versus Betts, all those types of things. The days of clean innings and things like that, it's too critical the way games can flip around.

Q. And with May going one inning, how important is it to keep him to one so he's available to start presumably in 4?

PAT MURPHY: Exactly. That was the plan all along. Keep him short but give him a taste. We got the Joker in there, and he got his first taste. So I think that was very important to get those guys in there.

Q. David Hamilton's impact on the bases was kind of all over this one, but in that sixth inning specifically for him to draw the pickoff throw, read that ground ball behind him, get to third, how did that set up Williams' at-bat?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, no question. They know that Hamilton's on there and he's an elite base stealer, and that sometimes causes the trepidation with the pitcher.

When I went out to check on Hamilton after the hit by pitch, Freddie said to me, Oh, you're just doing this, Murph, just to get extra time because you want him to steal.

I said, Should we go on the first or second pitch? Let me know.

Anyway, I love Freddie and respect the heck out of him. Everybody knew what was going on, and sometimes that affects the pitcher and affects the balance of the game, that threat that we talk about.

So he didn't have to steal a base. It made a good read. That's all those little things in base running that make a difference.

Q. You talked today pregame about Contreras and when you got him and the scouting report from Walt Weiss and all that. When did you know that you had this kind of special player coming to the Brewers? What told you this guy might be a guy like this?

PAT MURPHY: Well, you watch him compete every night and you watch him go about the business. There's nobody that wants it anymore. The first year he was here, he literally wanted to catch every game. I don't know what the string is, but he didn't take a day off until over a month in, mostly catching.

He just wanted to catch every day. Night, day, didn't care. Wanted to catch every day and was ticked if I ever DH'd him. He just wanted to be in there. This kid wants it. He doesn't believe in days off. He doesn't believe in being injured. He played one year with a broken hand. And he wants to excel.

It's not enough for him to make the All-Star team. He wants to excel. He wants it all. He's driven to a point where sometimes you have to intervene. He was so significant tonight, incredible. Forget even the offensive production, which was incredible. Four quality at-bats. But the defense and just calling the game, working with four or five different pitchers, whatever we threw out there. He does it every night.

This guy, he's underrated. Whatever people think about him, he's underrated. He's that good.

Q. Just the regular season, it seems like this team has clutch at-bat, clutch just hits everywhere in the regular season. In the postseason, it just seems like there's just that clutch moment, clutch hit. Is that what's different about this group that no matter the situation, they just know how to rise to the occasion?

PAT MURPHY: They're hungry. That's the big difference. They were good last year. We won the most games in baseball last year, and they were good. We ran into a buzz saw, a team pretty similar to the team we're playing right now. They were really good. Like I said a million times, we had the emotional series. But we were clutch last year. We did a lot of great things.

This year they don't want to be denied, and they're going against arguably one of the best teams in baseball ever put together, and they don't care. They won't be denied. It starts with the dude behind the dish.

You look at the game Turang had today quietly. You look at Chourio, I don't even know if he got any hits, but you look at his at-bats, moving runners, coming through in the clutch.

These guys, regardless of their futures and how rich they're all going to be and how much their cards are all going to be worth, regardless of all that, these guys will not be denied. They want to play. They got a chip on their shoulder, and they want what they want.

I'm not shocked because I know 1 through 9, they come to play.

Q. What's your message, or what was your message to Henderson after an outing where pitching-wise he held up pretty well but had some of the self-inflicted wounds on the field?

PAT MURPHY: My message, I haven't given to him yet. I want to calm down a little bit, you know what I mean? This kid's been great for us all year long. He's a rookie. Made a couple of mistakes. No reason to harp on it. He'll make the adjustment.

Because he -- like I said before, he does not want to let this team down. He feels horribly about it. I don't need to go in and paddle him or something. You've got to support him and help him understand how to correct those things and how to have some composure in those situations and pitch better because you put yourself -- you walk the lead-off hitter, you threw a ball in the dirt with a man on second that kicked away, that's not a pitch that was called for in the dirt.

Now he put himself in that jam. Then he throws the ball away first on two different occasions, that's three runs that you give him. That can't happen. That just can't happen.

But I believe in him, and I believe he'll correct it.