The Milwaukee Brewers dropped their first series since late April after falling to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, 5-1.

It was a game in which not much was going for Milwaukee on either side of the ball, and manager Pat Murphy had plenty to say after the game. He focused on being overpowered by the Dodgers’ stars and Milwaukee’s pitching.

"You know, [Kyle] Tucker hits a shot right down the line over the bag, and that ends up being devastating," Murphy told the media. "If that ball's right to the first baseman, we turn two, it looks like a different ballgame. Yeah, that's the way it goes.

"[Shane] Drohan, I thought, threw the ball really, really well," Murphy added. "I thought [Brandon] Sproat threw the ball well, but he's got his pitch count crawling up to 90, which we, you know, as high as we can go. We got two lefties coming up. We didn't get the job done when we had to there in whatever inning that was."

Sproat's day ended after four innings, and he struck out seven batters but also allowed four hits, four walks and three earned runs. Afterward, Murphy had more praise than criticism for the 25-year-old right-hander.

"He's throwing the ball good, and he shows flashes of brilliance," Murphy said. "That's what rookies do, you know. I think there's a huge upside for this kid. I'm excited as heck. It's unfortunate. You know, it's unfortunate. I mean, could we have left him for Tucker? Yeah, we could have, but bottom line is we thought that was a better move, and it didn't work out. 

"Well, he's so good. He's so good when he's good that it gives you hope," Murphy added. "I mean, he's facing a great lineup today, but he's so good when he's good. He's done some great things for us already this year."

Through Sproat’s outings, Murphy sees potential that could lead to a rewarding future, and he compared some of his struggles to those of Jacob Misiorowski during his rookie season. Now, Misiorowski has become one of baseball’s best pitchers and the Brewers’ go-to ace.

"This guy's got a chance to be a high-end starter, and he's a rookie, so rookies are going to go through that," Murphy said. "But a kid like this has such upside that, you know, we lived with some of this last year with Miz, too. 

"But he shows some brilliance, and today's outing wasn't ideal," Murphy added. "But, if you look at his line before Drone gave up the triple and the homer, it was a decent line with too many walks."

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