NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERS

October 14, 2026

Pat Murphy

Dodger Stadium

Milwaukee Brewers

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Brewers - 6, Dodgers - 2

Q. In that bottom of the sixth, Abner's obviously been terrific for you guys. Struggling to find the plate, but it all happens in a hurry. How do you balance, okay, when do we take him out versus wanting to give him a shot to make it right? When did you make the decision?

PAT MURPHY: We wanted him -- I told you guys before -- I don't know if you were here before, but I told you. Will Smith is swinging the bat good. I know he doesn't have numbers, but I can see he's swinging the bat great, and I know what a great player he is. So I wanted Abner to face him because I'd rather have Abner face him than him face a lefty.

But Abner not throwing strikes is unusual, but he's been good, I don't know, seven straight playoff games. Seven straight? Or six straight. Yeah, we believe in him. He didn't have his control tonight, but DL Hall came in and just changed the game.

Q. If De Paula doesn't get announced as a pinch hitter, Abner gets another batter if it's Rojas?

PAT MURPHY: No.

Q. He's coming out anyway?

PAT MURPHY: Once I know that he doesn't have that good command and that sinker just leaped back over the plate. I know a little bit the delivery, maybe it's the mound, whatever, he's not feeling great. Obviously he's missing. But that was going to be his last hitter. Once Smith hit the ball, that's the last.

Q. Murph, the other night Jake described his bat as one of the greatest feelings that you can have. We're going to get him in a few minutes. You get to watch it. What went through your mind as you saw him do what he did the other night but finished with a homer?

PAT MURPHY: You think to yourself you have those long at-bats again, what's the other team thinking? What's the pitcher thinking? Here we go again.

Now, he had two at-bats like this against the Braves. You guys look it up. It was against Perez, the lefty for the Braves. Martin Perez, right? Is that the guy that's killing it for the Braves this year in the front end?

So he had one like that, and he walked the first one, and the second one he had like a 12-pitch homer. Same thing, it was an incredible at-bat. So I've seen this before four times this year where he's had these long 10-plus-pitch at-bats that resulted in either a walk or a homer.

Yeah, it's incredible. Incredible at-bat.

Q. The last two games every time the Dodgers have scored, you scored the very next half inning. Where does that come from, and how big of a swing is that?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, the swing is huge. I think it's what it's all about in the game. To be that locked in that you respond every time. It's resiliency. It's a belief. It's all those things. Our guys have done it, they've responded.

Like you said, I noticed the same thing, all three games we've played so far, and hopefully that continues, where just every time they score, we come back and score. That's not easy to do in baseball because you can hit a line drive that gets caught or you can hit a ball just outside the foul line so you don't score. Then a guy makes an incredible pitch, whatever it might be.

The guy that threw for them was unbelievable. Our GM, Matt Arnold, drafted him with Tampa Bay, and I have to hear that every now and then. I love it, and I promised him I would not mention that tonight because he did not want me to, but I just did. I'll probably be let go for tomorrow. There will be an interim.

But Snell was unbelievable. Like he was absolutely on it, like this guy was in the -- he was sensational.

Q. Jackson Chourio is delivering in big moments at such a young age. What have you seen in his approach that tells you he thrives under this kind of postseason pressure?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, he does. No moment's too big for Jack Jack. This exact date -- I guess last year, right? -- hit a first pitch homer. He's special. He's a special cat.

Just proud of our club, proud that they came out here and didn't let the -- the environment was great. Now, we had practice because the environment down the road there in San Diego for a couple nights was incredible also. It's a tough environment to play in. It was loud, and I'm proud of the guys that they stayed after it.

Q. Can you talk about what you tell your team when they're up 3-0? Obviously we know history is very much on your side, but we also know, if we're old enough, like I am, it has happened once before.

PAT MURPHY: No, exactly. I don't need to tell them anything. We don't change anything. There's nothing to change. The Dodgers are, like I've mentioned, an incredible team that's won back-to-back championships. You think they're not good enough to come back and win a game against us or come back and play well? I mean, I know how good they are. Our guys know how good they are. Our guys know what we're up against.

But that doesn't change anything. We come out and play the same way every time.

Q. Just to follow up on that, how good do you feel about your position right now?

PAT MURPHY: It don't matter how I feel, you know what I mean? It really doesn't. There's no feeling good, feeling bad. It's just onward. We're not trying to be just stop here. Like I said, the goal the whole time from Spring Training February 9th, the first day we got together, the goal the whole time is just like build the resiliency and a passion for being in the now and a passion for winning tonight, and then let them tap us on the shoulder when it's over.

Q. Jake Bauers is having his best season to date. What's impressive is his on base percentage. What turned his season around, and why does he have a high on-base percentage?

PAT MURPHY: Players turn their season around. Jake got an opportunity, that's what he got. He got an opportunity to contribute, and he kind of found his offensive approach, and he kind of found, like, I'm really talented, but this is what serves me best. It's a growth in the game. He's continued to grow.

He's got more to work on, he knows that, but that mental discipline to be able to stay pitch to pitch and take his walks -- I mean, his walks, it's got to be up there in the league. I don't know where, but his on-base percentage has got to be up there in the league too. He does a really nice job of that.

Then his homers will come. Homers are thrown, and when he gets his pitch, if he keeps himself from chasing and helps his team win. So pretty special.

Q. Pitching tomorrow?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, there will be pitching.