NL WILD CARD SERIES: METS VS BREWERS

October 1, 2024

Pat Murphy

American Family Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Pregame Press Conference

Mets - 8, Brewers - 4

Q. Defense and pitching were -- the relief pitching were the two things that kind of carried you guys more than anything. It seemed like tonight, it's the two things that kind of hurt you the most.

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, we've been good all year in the bullpen. We had a lead in the game, and we had four of the best relievers in the game eligible, so we felt pretty good about it.

Q. What did you see in Peralta? He had obviously retired nine guys in a row, but was there something that you saw that made you think, well, he's not at his best?

PAT MURPHY: I don't think he retired nine in a row, but maybe. Well, one was a hard contact sac fly to center.

It isn't about that. He's probably 18 pitches from where his -- is kind of his limit. We take the lead in the game. We've got a full bullpen. It's a playoff game. You don't -- well, you know, we'd like to get him to five because of our bullpen usage over the week. You don't do that. You're playing to win tonight.

Payamps has got a 1.03 E.R.A. in 30 games, hasn't given up a run in 12 outings. If Payamps gets into the top of the order again or if Peralta gets to the top of the order again, then it changes how we use the bullpen usage. Then Ashby has to come in for Nimmo and get the ground ball like he did. Payamps is out of the inning, and we're not even talking about this.

It was a good outing for Freddie. He was very emotional. So those 70 pitches are a little different when it's that much emotion. Payamps got the great play by Chourio, and it's a tough left field out there at that time of day. So that second ball, although should have been caught, give the kid credit, it's a tough line drive in that sun. That's the one spot of the field that's tough. He doesn't catch that ball. Now we've got to get four outs. Payamps gets the next out, then he doesn't cover first, and then two infield hits, and then we bring in -- we bring in Ashby. He gives up an infield hit, then he gives up another hit and another hit. They've got to face three hitters.

It's unlike Ashby. He's been one of our best guys. His stuff is unbelievable. It's just unfortunate. Credit to the Mets, all they've been through, credit to them, no doubt about it. But Payamps and Ashby, leaving Freddie in one more inning, maybe we could have. It would have changed how we used the relievers, but maybe we could have.

I felt like we'd just took the lead. It had been an emotional 70 pitches. What's he got, 20 left? He's usually between 83 and 90 is when he kind of loses a little bit on his fastball. I didn't want to face those guys three times around. That was kind of my explanation knowing.

Q. When you look at your night offensively, kind of just looking at the scorecard, you kind of see a lot of marks at the beginning and not a lot of marks at the end.

PAT MURPHY: Same for them. Neither team got a hit after those runs scored. Neither team got a hit after the runs scored. Interesting. I don't know what inning that was when they got the five, but whatever it was, nobody got a hit after that. Isn't that crazy?

Q. After listening to some of your explanations, it just seems like it was uncharacteristic baseball by your team. How do you get them to get back to being themselves for tomorrow?

PAT MURPHY: What was uncharacteristic?

Q. You're saying Payamps is really good, he didn't cover the base. The outfield, the missed play, the defense -- just some uncharacteristic moments here and there.

PAT MURPHY: I think teams are going to have moments. This was a big game to have those moments in. Every team had missed plays. Their third baseman didn't field the ball early in the game. They capitalized at the right time. We had first and third, one out, hit into a double play. We had another situation, second and third, didn't capitalize. We've had situations too early that you could say Severino uncharacteristically didn't throw strikes early, and he got himself in trouble.

It's just the way it worked out. That big inning takes the wind out of your sails. Really it was emotional for both teams.

Once it got to be 8-4, nobody did a thing. But credit to Severino settling down and really getting after it and making some great pitches. The reliever came in. Buttó was fantastic, and Stanek was great at the end.

So credit where credit is due. They had timely hitting. They hit the ball where we weren't, and give them credit. Nobody hit a homer, and that's unusual in a game, but yeah.

Freddie was a little off his game in that second inning. The emotions of the first inning maybe got to him a little bit. He gave up the triple and the sac fly, a couple of hard contacts in a row, three hard contacts that inning, and then he settled in a little bit. But when his pitch count got up and I felt like we had the full bullpen, game changed.

You've got to cover first. You can't give them five outs in an inning, but it happens.

Q. Murph, just I don't know what you expected from Jackson in a big game, big stage like this. What did you see, especially in those early at-bats, kind of some loud contact?

PAT MURPHY: Jackson was fantastic, man. He's 20 years old, 20 years old, to play the defense he played in that setting, some of his good at-bats, he's swinging, and he's a special player. I'm really happy for him.

He knows -- the thing that I get happy about, Adam, is I get happy when a player knows he belongs, you know what I mean? Hey, I belong. And I like the big moments, and I like being in this situation, and I expect a lot out of myself. That translates to a really, really good All-Star type player.

Yeah, Milwaukee fans, I mean, he's special. We've got a game to play tomorrow, and we usually respond. This is one of the great things about this ball club is that they respond.

Yeah, I respect the Mets a great deal. I think we'll come out and compete tomorrow.

Q. Regarding tomorrow, are you ready to announce the starting pitcher?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, we're going to start Frankie Montas tomorrow.

Q. What went into that decision? What have you seen from Montas since he's gotten here?

PAT MURPHY: Frankie's been great. We just wanted to see how this game rolled out. Having to use Civale, who was sensational also, him and Mears pitched really well. It's really encouraging -- yeah, having to throw Civale didn't make the decision easy. Civale's thrown the ball great for us too. Frankie will get the start tomorrow.

Q. Murph, can you expand a little bit on what you see in their temperament, how you think they'll handle this moment and what is to come tomorrow?

PAT MURPHY: Yeah, I think that this team all year long played with an urgency. They really did. Once we clinched on the 18th, we're 10 games up in the conference, I think we ended up winning the division by 10 games. They were a little bit, whew, you know what I mean. There were some games, like I mentioned, where we took the foot off the gas a little bit, tried to give some guys some rest.

But they're disappointed. They're disappointed how this game went. It's a big blow because we're in control of the game, and in 12 pitches, we're not in control of the game over a missed play in the outfield. It was a tough ball. And then not cover first to end the inning, and then five runs score after that.

That's tough to recover from. That's a big blow. Credit the Mets for capitalizing, but it is what it is.

Now, this team has responded in all those -- remember the Dodgers beat the day lights out of us twice. We responded. The Yankees beat the day lights out of us twice. We responded. I think we'll respond.

Now, they've got their 1 and 2 going, so they've got Manaea tomorrow, who's very, very good.

Q. Just go back to the Ashby outing. Did it seem to snowball on him a little bit? Was the command off? What did you see out of him?

PAT MURPHY: To be honest, I haven't watched it. What I think happened is the game sped up on him a little bit. He still had his good velo, but he didn't have his good sink. He didn't have his good movement on him. Then it seemed a little tentative on his breaking stuff.

But you saw 97 and 99. The kid has been -- him and Payamps, along with Megill and Williams, those are four of the best relievers in the game if you do the numbers. So I was pretty confident with Payamps 1, Ashby 2, Megill and Williams were good. It didn't work that way.