The Milwaukee Brewers were dealt a returning blow on Wednesday in a 6-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The loss came one day after the Brewers soundly defeated Arizona 13-2 in the series opener while logging 15 hits. During the second game of the series, the offense started strong to give Milwaukee an early lead, but ultimately fell flat. 

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks benefited off a four-run inning in which three of the runs resulted from a Nolan Arenado home run, which was one of four long balls for the Diamondbacks.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy is well-acquainted with Arenado from his time as the head coach of Arizona State University’s baseball team, and he has seen Arenado deliver such hits before.

"I signed him out of high school," Murphy said. "He was coming to play for me in college, and I've known Nolan, he's done that to us a lot. So yeah, hats off to him, he's a great player, he's had a great career and continues, he's still passionate about the game and [I have] great respect for him."

Murphy also touched on the outing of Brandon Sproat, who was responsible for two of Arizona’s four home runs. Both of them came in the fourth inning to give the Diamondbacks the lead after the Brewers led early, 2-0.

"He really, three innings, he was so good," Murphy said. "And give credit to the Diamondbacks when they deserve it. They came back today and they, after those first three innings, they were getting dominated and they came back and had a great approach and took advantage, hit four home runs tonight, and that was the scoring."

Sproat’s day finished in the top of the fifth inning when he was replaced by DL Hall. By the time he went back to the dugout, Sproat had logged 4 ⅓ innings while striking out five batters and allowing six hits, four earned runs and two walks.

"Yeah, I mean, he ticked down a little bit," Murphy said regarding Sproat. "You could see he ticked down a little bit, and they were ready for what they were ready for, they were on it. And yeah, and I thought D.L. Hall threw the ball really well. It was the first time in a while that I really saw him throw the ball well."

After Hall struck out three batters and allowed one hit and a walk over 2 ⅓ innings, 25-year-old left-hander Brian Fitzpatrick made his MLB debut. The Brewers’ 312th pick in the 2022 MLB Draft logged 1 ⅓ innings and allowed two hits and a walk.

"Fitzpatrick, I couldn't be more thrilled for the kid to come in and face the hitters that he faced," Murphy said. "To face some of the best hitters in the league, you know what I mean, to come in and face those guys and do the job that he did, give up two scratch hits and get four outs for us. Yeah, there's some real positives there."

Though he was praising the pitchers who took the mound for Milwaukee in the loss, Murphy was critical of the offense’s inability to convert with runners in scoring position.

"I mean, we didn't hit with two outs tonight. We had traffic with two outs, you know what I mean," Murphy said. "The most discouraging inning is when we let off the inning with a man on second. 

"We had some pretty empty at-bats after that," Murphy added. "That was hurtful, you know? But to me, when we first got behind, we didn't respond."

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