Pat Murphy offers high praise for Abner Uribe's bounce-back outing in Game 1 of World Series

The Milwaukee Brewers' first World Series victory in 44 years saw a familiar quartet of pitchers hold a pesky Tampa Bay Rays' offense to just one run. Soon-to-be NL Cy Young Jacob Misiorowski took the bump first for the Brew Crew in Game 1 of the 2026 World Series, before the trio of Aaron Ashby, Abner Uribe, and Trevor Megill closed out the game in relief.

Misiorowski once again struggled to put away hitters -- something that's becoming a trend in October for the Brewers' flame-throwing ace. While Misiorowski's velocity is just fine -- he broke the record for the fastest recorded pitch in World Series history with a 103.5 mph fastball to start last night's game -- the shape of his fastball and troubles locating his secondary pitches have led to a decreased whiff rate from the 24-year-old. Miz, who maintained an elite 37.3% whiff rate during the regular season, posted just a 17% whiff rate in his World Series start last night. As such, while Miz allowed just one earned run across five innings, the regular season MLB strikeout leader collected just three strikeouts in Game 1.

With Yandy Díaz, who had already made two loud outs against Misiorowski, set to lead off the sixth inning, Brewers' manager Pat Murphy elected to turn to his bullpen despite Miz sitting at just 78 pitches when the fifth inning came to a close. The first reliever out of the Brewers' bullpen was Abner Uribe, who assumed the role of an eighth-inning set-up man during the regular season, but has seen his role modified in October. Murphy is currently calling upon Uribe to face the opposing lineup's best pocket of right-handed hitters, whether that be in the sixth, seventh, or eighth innings.

Uribe was excellent in his new role on Friday night, with his lone blemish being a one-out single from Jonathan Aranda in the sixth that was quickly wiped out by an electric strikeout-caught stealing double play to end the inning. Uribe returned for the top of the seventh inning to face right-handed slugger Junior Caminero, whom he struck out on three pitches.

The four big outs from Uribe gave way to a dominant five-out performance from Aaron Ashby and a chaotic save from Trevor Megill to end the game. However, Uribe's performance should not be lost in the madness of the ninth inning, as the flame-throwing right-hander not only neutralized Díaz and Caminero, but he also bounced back from his shaky performance in Game 3 of the NLCS.

After long layoff, Abner Uribe bounces back from shaky performance in Game 3 of NLCS with dominant World Series debut

"Incredible. It was the best I've seen him in a while, really special," said Murphy on Uribe's World Series debut after last night's game. That's high praise for a pitcher who was dominant in his first six outings of this year's postseason. However, a shaky performance in his seventh playoff appearance this year, which also happened to be the seventh consecutive game in which Uribe pitched, had fans concerned about how he would respond in the World Series.

In Game 3 of the NLCS, Uribe's command eluded him and the flame-thrower walked the bases loaded before allowing a go-ahead two-RBI double to catcher Will Smith. Murphy, however, attributed that shaky performance to Uribe's high workload, saying after last night's World Series opener, "You've got to remember he pitched every single game in the postseason. Maybe it was our fault we pitched him too much."

The eight days off, therefore, seemed to be key for Uribe, who, like the rest of the Brewers' roster, clearly looked rested rather than rusted last night. After that long layoff, and with Uribe back to looking like his dominant self, Murphy sounds like he's ready to frequently call upon the right-hander once more. Said Murphy after claiming they might have pitched Uribe too much at the beginning of the postseason, "we might do it again."

There's no tomorrow in the World Series. There will be plenty of time to rest during the offseason. As such, don't be surprised if Murphy sticks to his proposition. So long as Uribe continues to look like he did in Game 1 last night, the low-slot righty will remain an oft-used high-leverage weapon in the Brewers' bullpen.

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