Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy has earned plaudits for the way he has handled his club this postseason. He’s done a lot of things right which is why Milwaukee is just one win away from its first World Series title, but he made a controversial decision in Game 4 which might have cost the team a chance to close the series out and earn a sweep.
Offense was scarce in Game 4 as the Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays entered extra innings tied at 2. Murphy turned to Ashby, who has been absolutely dominant in the playoffs and has yet to allow a run in 18 innings of work, in the bottom of the 9th to ensure that the team got to extra innings. Ashby was his usual dominant self as he did not allow any baserunners in 2 and 1/3 innings of work but was pulled in the bottom of the 11th in favor of Antonio Senzatela.
When asked about his decision following the game, Murphy had the following to say per Alden González of ESPN: “[Ashby] was disappointed he was coming out. But I said we’ve got to be mindful of your health, and we’ve got to be mindful of winning the whole thing. If you’re going to win the whole thing, you have to understand we can’t drain you today or risk injury today. He’s thrown a lot.”
González also noted that Ashby’s velocity was down slightly in the 11th inning which suggests that he might have been a little fatigued so Murphy took him out more out of an abundance of caution in case they will need him again in the series. Still, the decision did backfire a bit as Senzatela got through the 11th but after Cooper Pratt gave Milwaukee the lead in the top of the 12th, Junior Caminero reached on a error to start the bottom of the 12th and Murphy replaced Senzatela with Shane Drohan who proceeded to cough up the game and allowed two runs which forced a Game 5.
Will Brewers have Ashby available for Game 5?
Now the question is whether Ashby will be available for Game 5. He threw about 30 pitches in Game 4 so maybe if the Brewers have a slim lead Murphy will turn to him for an inning to try to shut the door, but if the Rays go out and steamroll the Brewers then he probably will not be seen again until Game 6 back in Milwaukee.
Maybe if Murphy had just left Ashby in he could have shut the door in the 12th and the Brewers would already be the World Series champions, but doing that would have run the risk of injury his best bullpen arm so he probably made the right call.
No team has come back from a 3-0 deficit in the World Series, but maybe pulling Ashby will be looked back as the turning point in the series if Tampa Bay is able to mount some sort of miraculous comeback.
Brewers Manager Pat Murphy Reveals Why He Controversially Pulled Aaron Ashby From Game 4