MLB WORLD SERIES: RAYS VS BREWERS

October 28, 2026

Pat Murphy

Tropicana Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Pregame 5 Press Conference

Q. Just wondering how you've seen Cooper Pratt's confidence come along at the plate to show up on the biggest stage like you did last night?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, this kid just continues to amaze you. As a young player that just got into the league and quite a bit of pressure on him in terms of a young player who already signed a long-term contract like so many you see around the league today, McGonigle, Wetherholt.

And for him to come up at 21 and do the things he's doing offensively when he never put up gaudy numbers in the Minor Leagues. But just to see the way he's become a student of the game and willing to be open to growth, yeah, it's pretty special.

Q. Given the state of the series and how much he's pitched already, would you use Aaron Ashby tonight?

PAT MURPHY: Possibly.

Q. When you ask him, is there any time he's ever said no --

PAT MURPHY: No.

Q. -- as far as his availability? And, if not, how do you read that?

PAT MURPHY: You just have to gauge the stuff. William helps us too. He's been extraordinary.

But we know him so well. So if you're watching him, you can kind of tell, hmm, that's not quite as crisp, or he doesn't have the command the same way.

Q. Their guy is going on three days' rest tonight, but Miz is going on four days' rest, which is something he hasn't done in the second half and I think only twice since the end of April. Do you anticipate that being a hurdle to overcome?

PAT MURPHY: I don't think for either guy -- knowing Ras the way we know Ras and the type of warrior he is -- he's one of the best pitchers in the league obviously, he's proven that. He pitches well here at home. I don't think any of that affects anything.

I think these athletes this time of year -- we space it out to five days during the season to keep them on a routine, but also protect them a little bit. There's nothing to say they can't at this time of year. Look at what Yamamoto did last year, things like that.

Q. There are some guys you talk to them and they say they get butterflies, they get nervous before every game. There's other guys who say I've been doing this forever, I don't get nervous at all. Where do you stand in that? Do you get butterflies? How are you before every game, before big games?

PAT MURPHY: I do a lot of self-talk, so I'm just like, hey, you've got a job to do. This is not about you. If you're nervous, that's about you. You have a job to do. You have to serve right now. You have to serve, you know what I mean?

I think if you keep doing that -- you'll notice that like I don't notice a lot of things that go on in the stands, or if you told me, hey, did you see that in between inning whatever, I don't notice it.

That's a lot of years of getting to that, yeah. But there's -- if you don't like pressure, you've got to pick another job because this is -- is it real pressure, or is it more your ego and what other people think and that kind of stuff?

When you think about the real jobs in the world here today, people that are going out and going into a fire and saving a building or saving people or the first responders and things like that -- you know, you just say to yourself, wait a minute. This is a responsibility. I try to keep it as something of service, and that's it.

Q. You've seen Miz grow up -- we've talked about this throughout the season. His ability to handle this biggest stage moment and how rapidly he's matured from what he was when you saw him first last year?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, that's it. He has really matured. I think this would be big on anybody. If Scherzer or Verlander -- they've just done it so much. Now Miz is doing it in the World Series in basically his first full season, so it's a lot on him.

You'd be surprised what people can do. Look at Cooper last night. You'd just be surprised. We've got a real young group, and they really never cease to amaze me with some of their play. I'm watching him do this right in front of me, watching this maturation, and it's been great.

Q. Was the running play between second and third, the explanation they could review whether the tag was made or not, but couldn't review whether it was out of the baseline?

PAT MURPHY: Yes.

Q. Would you like to see that added to the list of things that can be reviewed?

PAT MURPHY: That's a good question. I feel like you can look at umpires' calls on that play and they vary. But they're not trying to get it wrong.

I think you look at that and you can pick at that, oh, that's one play. We hit nine balls over 97 miles an hour and seven of them got caught.

Q. I was just thinking in terms of the context, if there are a lot of things reviewed, should that be added to where Alfonso in the studio can look it over?

PAT MURPHY: I think you would then run into a problem of where you measure it from and intent and all those things. Maybe yes; maybe no. Again, I don't really have a strong opinion on that yet.

Q. Joey is such a good defender obviously. I was wondering if you had a chance to go back and look at those plays or what you remember from last night. Do you think he rushed at all, or what do you think happened on the too-deep short hop?

PAT MURPHY: You've got to know the runner. There is nobody else -- I'm telling you guys. There is nobody on our team that would say -- if you had one guy to pick to hit the ball to, everybody would say hit it to Joey. My heart feels for him a little bit because this guy has been so good for us, and he was so good in the second half offensively. Now he's kind of got a backup role, and that must hurt.

He's been so important to us. Again, you can use your feet and shuffle, he's got time, make the throw, or you can bounce it. You practice bouncing it, and you warm up, and on the turf it's pretty good.

Yeah, I feel for him. He makes that play most of the time, and that changes what we do next.

You look at Drohan last night -- to close the book on last night, you look at Drohan, you can say what you want to say, but if the ball is hit two feet to the right or a foot to the right, it's a double play. And then what? Then the ball that's hit up the middle, our infield's not back, Turang makes that play every time. So he gave up hits, but those easily could have been outs, a couple of them. And now we're out of the inning and now it's a different story.

Well, if you threw this pitch or this pitcher could have maybe -- you know. And that could have backfired too.

Q. You explained the rationale last night of not going to Miz in the 12th inning. I'm curious, would it have changed the calculus for you if he had been adamant, if he had demanded to take the ball in that spot?

PAT MURPHY: He was willing, like anybody on our team is willing. But you have to weigh -- Senzatela was going back out. He's experienced. He's throwing the ball good. We make that play, there's one out.

Miz would have had to get himself ready. Now, these guys are starters, and they have to get themselves ready. It's not like just pick up the ball from sitting in your chair there and throw. He would have had to get himself ready in a short amount of time, adjust to the mound, all that kind of stuff, get his body ready, and come in.

Then the ramifications of that -- a walk or a base hit, then the ramifications of that are different. Now somebody different is pitching today and all that kind of stuff.

You're asking a guy to do something that -- could Turang go play shortstop in a clutch situation? Yes. But you're asking a guy to do something. Or do you want Joey Ortiz? You want Joey Ortiz.

Can Turang do it? Absolutely. Is he good at it? Absolutely.

You make those decisions, and it can look like, oh, why didn't you do that? It would have been a simple solution. Why didn't you let so-and-so hit away? Why didn't you try to steal a base?

With Vaughn, Vaughn has a good history against Baker, why didn't you steal that base? He would have been safe if his hand was in a different spot.

I can second-guess a lot of things, and believe me I do. I could have done that. I could have done that. I could have left Megill in for the next inning. How do you know? Then he gives up two runs -- just because nobody would question it? Nobody would question it. Everybody would say, of course you leave in Megill. He's your closer. Leave him in. And I thought bring Ashby right there against those particular hitters.

You look back and you go, well, yeah. I usually don't get questions when it goes the other way, and that's part of the job. I get it.

Q. It's only been 15 hours and they haven't actually played, but how do you feel your players have responded to how last night ended?

PAT MURPHY: Well, Sal's in there doing a crossword. Trying to think who else I saw in there.

Cooper's playing cards. He's trying to figure out a new card game, and Priester is just raking him. I don't know how much he's winning over him, but he's just raking him over the coals. Coop is like counting the cards. It's the 8 of hearts, and he's going one, two, three, four. It's an 8, Coop. You're fine. Quinn is just laughing, and he's taking his money.

That's all I've seen so far.

Q. You talk about win today, win today, but most yesterdays are not like yesterday with the stakes and everything. I'm just wondering how you feel the group will handle that?

PAT MURPHY: I don't know if you've been following the postseason, Andy, but they've responded pretty good. We've had a lot of close games, mostly on the positive side. We've had a great postseason so far. That's kind of the first of its kind.

We ended the game in San Diego -- the other game we lost in the postseason, we ended the game with a 106-mile-an-hour one-hop ball to the shortstop for a double play. If that's two feet to the left, we might be playing one less game. I think the guys have responded all year.

But this is a really good team, and we've got one of the best pitchers in baseball going against us. I think we'll respond.

Q. How well has William Contreras been working with the pitchers behind the scenes, adapting all the time with all these bullpen changes you're doing, not missing a beat, and nailing all these challenges. How impressive is he to you?

PAT MURPHY: This kid, I don't know what he's hitting. I hear bits and pieces of other things. It's a small sample size. But there is no one more important doing the job for us bigger than William. He's been incredible. Both sides of it, catches every inning.

That's not easy. He's been incredible, plain and simple. How he does the ABS thing, I don't know. (Motions flipping a coin). I really don't know sometimes, but the guy has a knack for it. Yeah, it's been special to watch him work.