Games like this are where bullpen roles start to look less like labels and more like proof. Trevor Megill was not asked to protect a lead on Sunday. He was asked to keep a 3-3 game alive against the Twins in the ninth inning, and he answered with a scoreless frame, two strikeouts and 13 pitches before Milwaukee finished the job with a walk-off win in the 10th.
That usage matters because it says something about how the Milwaukee Brewers view Megill right now. He has not just been a conventional closer waiting for a save chance; he has been part of the bridge that keeps high-leverage games from slipping away. Sunday was his eighth tied-game appearance of the season, and it came in his 47th appearance overall, which is a strong sign that Milwaukee is comfortable putting him into pressure spots even when the situation does not fit the clean save-script version of bullpen work.
The larger story is that Megill and Abner Uribe have become a real late-game pairing for Milwaukee. Pat Murphy has been clear about the level both have reached, saying Megill has been “awfully good” and that Uribe has been, too. That is not just praise for the sake of praise. It reflects a bullpen hierarchy that has held together because both pitchers have delivered consistent miss-bat stuff when the Brewers need it most.
Megill’s recent line helps explain why. He has worked 21.2 innings with 11 hits, seven walks and 19 strikeouts, a profile that shows both swing-and-miss ability and enough traffic to keep every inning interesting. Uribe’s recent work has been even more eye-catching: 22.1 innings, nine hits, four walks and 24 strikeouts. Put together, those are the numbers of a tandem that can shorten games, even if neither pitcher is always operating in the same neat, traditional role.
A bullpen built on flexibility
The Brewers’ comfort with Megill in a tie game also connects back to how his role has evolved. He took over ninth-inning duties when Devin Williams was injured for most of 2024, and that experience appears to have carried into this season. Milwaukee does not seem to be thinking in rigid save-only terms anymore. It is thinking in leverage, and Megill is part of the answer whether the ninth inning is tied, protected or just waiting for the next big swing of the game.
Uribe’s path makes the duo even more interesting. He signed with Milwaukee as an international free agent in the summer of 2018, made his MLB debut in 2021 and dealt with a 2023 season limited to 14.1 innings because of injury and suspension. Last year, though, he put together a 1.67 ERA, a.194 opponent batting average and a 30.2% strikeout rate over 75.1 innings. That kind of rebound is one reason Milwaukee can trust him as part of the late-inning answer.
Megill’s own route has been less direct. Drafted by the Padres in the seventh round in 2015, claimed off waivers by the Cubs in 2019, and later traded to Milwaukee in 2023, he has had to work for every bit of leverage he has earned. Sunday was another reminder that he has. In a tied game, on the road to a walk-off win, he did not just survive the ninth. He made it look like exactly where he belonged.
