The Milwaukee Brewers improved to 5-1 in the early days of the 2026 MLB season after defeating the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, 8-2.

After the game, manager Pat Murphy met with the media and started by talking about how quickly the course of a game can change.

“I think everybody's just getting in the rhythm of things,” Murphy said. “You know, and the way the game is played today, it's so explosive, you know what I mean? Like the games can change so quickly, one swing of the bat. 

“So much strength in the game,” he added. “You know, there's so much arsenal, so homers are plentiful in the game. But we sometimes have to win in a different way, like we did today.”

The Brewers ended up trailing Tampa Bay early after Jacob Misiorowski gave up a two-run home run to designated hitter Yandy Diaz in the top of the third inning. The Brewers responded via a Brice Turang home run in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game up.

Early on, Murphy believed the Brewers were getting good looks against Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen, who had eight strikeouts in his outing while two hits and one earned run through five innings of work.

“I think you're going to get behind sometimes when you have two good pitchers going against each other,” Murphy said. “Rasmussen — I thought we had good at bats against him early. I really did. We lined out four times. I felt like, yeah, we're going to break through.”

Murphy also gave credit to Misiorowski, who was able to bounce back from not only the home run, but the harrowing moment in which he delivered a 100 mph pitch that was fouled off the facemask of home plate umpire CB Bucknor, leaving the former in obvious pain and leading to his exit from the game.

“Clearly, it looked like it affected him a little bit,” Murphy said. “Yeah, I think it did, yeah. Kind of after that, his response to the response. You know, you could tell he was throwing the ball differently. It wasn't as good. There's a walk. There's a knock. All of a sudden, he settles down. He really gets after it for Yandy.

“So, that being said, then he came back out,” he added. “And I thought he was much more locked in. And to give us six, I mean, on a day like today, again, it was pretty long. Very good. And I thought he was very, very good under control.”

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