MILWAUKEE — Ending their recent run of playoff frustration earned the Milwaukee Brewers a new nickname from their manager.
Pat Murphy has referred to his team as the “Average Joes,” a nod to their small-market status and lack of big names. After the Brewers beat the rival Chicago Cubs 3-1 in the decisive fifth game of their National League Division Series on Saturday night, Murphy decided it was time for an upgrade.
“You can call them the Average Joes,” Murphy said, “but I say they’re the Above-Average Joes.”
The top-seeded Brewers relied on contributions from just about all of them to get past the fourth-seeded Cubs.
Andrew Vaughn hit a tiebreaking home run in the fourth inning, and William Contreras and Brice Turang also went deep for Milwaukee. Trevor Megill, Jacob Misiorowski, Aaron Ashby, Chad Patrick and Abner Uribe combined on a four-hitter, with Uribe getting six outs for the first multi-inning save of his MLB career.