The Milwaukee Brewers skipper laments missed opportunities and a stagnant offense after the Brew Crew stranded 12 baserunners.
The Milwaukee Brewers failed to capitalize on a bases loaded situation in both the seventh and eighth inning.
On a day where two-time National League Manager of the Year Pat Murphy decided to give William Contreras and Garrett Mitchell the day off, both needed to come in for clutch pinch-hit appearances.
Contreras drew a walk and Mitchell struck out, but the big difference maker was how many runners the Brewers left on base.
Sure, Milwaukee's bullpen struggled, but the Brewers were just 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left a total of 12 baserunners stranded in the 4-2 loss.
What Did Pat Murphy Have to Say?
"We had our opportunities," Murphy said. "Hats off to the kid that pitched for them, the lefty. Parker, he was tremendous. He got better as the game went on, he made big pitches, we left guys on base, we struck out way too much but that was really good pitching we faced today."
To go along with his point, the Brewers struck out 13 times, including six combined from Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio, and Brice Turang.
As for Parker Messick, the Cleveland Guardians lefty improved to 7-3 on the year. Despite picking up a loss in his last two appearances, the 25-year-old went six innings where he allowed a pair of runs, but most impressively allowed just four hits and struck out nine Brewers.
Brewers Fall to 45-27
Murphy continued, "Credit to their starter for keeping them in the game. We had to go deep into our 'pen and gave up some runs there, but again, had opportunities. I'm going to try to pick out the positive things right now.
"It's frustrating when you have that many guys on base and don't get 'em in. I'm sure our runners in scoring position, we weren't real successful there."
The Brewers manager highlighted Gary Sanchez and Andrew Vaughn as two players who made the most of their at-bats. He knows Yelich will beat himself up, especially for his strikeout late, but Murphy said he had two or three really positive at-bats that highlight why he's this team's leadoff man.
Murphy said the team's starter, Shane Drohan, was "not sharp" and "not on his game" but gave Milwaukee five innings which was a huge plus. Ultimately, Murphy acknowledged Drohan "gave us a chance to win" but the bullpen gave up a few runs and the team's aforementioned struggles with runners on base came back to haunt them.
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