This was the sort of postseason move that can either make a manager look like a genius or leave him with egg on his face. Pat Murphy chose the first route. With the Milwaukee Brewers holding a 1-0 lead last night and the Los Angeles Dodgers' heart of the order due up for a third look, he went to his bullpen in the sixth inning and handed the ball to Abner Uribe. That is not a conservative move. It is a manager saying the game is there to be seized, not gently managed.
And it worked. Jackson Chourio had already given the Brewers the only run they needed with a leadoff home run, while Robert Gasser had covered five scoreless innings to keep the pressure right where Milwaukee wanted it. But the real test came once the game reached that awkward point where starters have done their job and everyone starts pretending the next decision is routine. It was not routine. Murphy knew it, and he acted like it.
Murphy chose leverage, not comfort
Uribe did not make the inning look pretty, but he made it matter. He walked Teoscar Hernández and Kyle Tucker before striking out Max Muncy, a sequence that tells you plenty about the job Murphy asked him to do. This was not about coasting through a clean frame. It was about surviving the most dangerous part of the lineup while the Brewers still had the upper hand.
That is where the value of a modified role becomes clear. Uribe has excelled when used against a tough string of righties in the sixth, seventh, or eighth inning, and Murphy leaned into that strength rather than asking for something generic. Too often, managers act as though bullpen usage is a matter of plugging names into innings. This was smarter than that. It was specific, aggressive, and entirely shaped by the moment.
There will always be a temptation to praise the pitcher and leave it there. That misses the bigger point. Uribe deserves credit for handling the pressure, but Murphy deserves credit for creating the conditions for success. He did not wait for the Dodgers to turn the inning into a crisis. He moved before the game could drift out of his control.
That is the difference between surviving a playoff game and actually directing one. The Brewers did not need a perfect evening. They needed a manager willing to trust his best matchups in the hardest spots. Murphy gave them exactly that, and Milwaukee's Game 3 win followed the logic of the decision as much as the execution of it.
