PHILADELPHIA -- Even on the night his team became the first in the Majors in three years to win 100 games, Brewers manager Pat Murphy showed he still has the pedal to the metal.
Murphy pulled one of his best players, All-Star catcher William Contreras, for a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning of Milwaukee’s 5-1 win over the Phillies on Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park. It proved to be the right move, because pinch-hitter Jackson Chourio responded by working a walk, stealing second base and scoring the go-ahead run.
But it was also Murphy sending a message. Contreras had not run hard on a groundout to shortstop Trea Turner in the fifth inning. Turner bobbled the baseball, but still had plenty of time to throw to first for the inning-ending out in a tie game.
“I don’t know if he could have been safe or not,” Murphy said. “Everybody knows how much William does for our team, how hard he plays and how much he competes. But he’s also a guy that people expect a lot out of. We don’t accept that. He knows that.”
It’s not uncommon for Contreras to pick his moments to run hard, and the Brewers generally don’t mind that he does. He’s played at least 141 games and started at least 108 games behind the plate in each of his four seasons with the Brewers, and is the first catcher in Brewers history to catch at least 1,000 innings in three straight seasons. His 1,074 2/3 innings behind the plate this season are most in the Majors.
“There’s never going to be a time when you’re not responsible for playing winning baseball,” Murphy said. “It’s a guy that has done so much for the Brewers, he still has to abide by all the same [rules]. He doesn’t have to go 100 percent every time down the baseline, but when a guy muffs it, you have to be going hard enough that you’re safe if he does muff it.
“That’s winning baseball. Because that at-bat is important. Because every one of those at-bats is important.”
How did Murphy’s move land in the clubhouse?
“I think it’s great. I’m sure you guys have heard him say it because he says it to us all the time: ‘You can’t coast uphill,’” said first baseman Jake Bauers, who supplied Thursday night’s winning hit. “He wants [us] to keep [our] foot on the gas. We want to keep the foot on the gas. And we don’t want to go into the postseason feeling like we already did something. It’s really just, keep our heads down, keep working, keep preparing and go out and execute at a high clip.”
To be fair, Contreras was not the only player who raised Murphy’s ire. Yes, the Brewers won their 100th game in a season for the first time in club history. Yes, they completed a 7-2 final road trip in which they won every series and clinched the division, the best record in franchise history and a first-round bye in the postseason.
But a manager always sees ways his team can be better.
“Out of the 30 teams, very few over the next 10 years will win 100,” Murphy said. “I’m just grateful and proud to be a part of it, truly. And I’m proud we have this group of guys. Now, did we play great baseball tonight? No. Have we been playing great baseball? No. The strikeouts are concerning offensively.
“But, the guys, they like being together and they like this winning thing. They can’t take it for granted, because it’s special. But you have to put in the work to do it.”