3 things we learned from the Brewers splitting the series with the Dodgers

The Milwaukee Brewers sit atop the NL Central with a league-high nine game lead ahead of their rivals. They recently took on the World Series favorites in the Los Angeles Dodgers and despite a bleak 0-2 deficit, Milwaukee clawed their way back to split the series 2-2 and show they will still be right there competing for the NL pennant in October.

A 5-2 defeat opened the series and the Brewers misery was compounded in a heavy 7-2 loss, giving up 13 hits on the night too. It seemed like things were only going to get worse for the Brew Crew, opening up game three of the series by giving up three runs in the top of the first. They bounced back in the second inning to tie the game and managed to squeeze their way through to a 5-4 victory thanks to Devin Williams taking down three of the best hitters in the game.

Thursday night saw the final game of the series with Williams stepping up again to record a save and secure a 6-4 victory and split the series.

This split showed the Brewers are more than capable of contending so here are three things we learned from the Brewers split series with the Dodgers.

1. Pat Murphy has installed a veteran mentality in a youthful group

Pat Murphy is currently running away with the NL Manager of the Year award having taken over from Craig Counsell and improving, while his predecessor sits 10.5 games back with the Chicago Cubs. The fanbase has taken to Murphy's old-fashioned no-nonsense approach to leading his team from the dugout and the players have taken to this, too.

A young group of guys now have a veteran fighting mentality installed in them, constantly fighting back no matter the opposition. Down 0-2 to the Dodgers they could have folded, then giving up three runs in the first of game three made the task even more difficult. And yet they still continued to battle and come away with a series split and NL-leading 33rd comeback win to add momentum to take into another tough series with the Cleveland Guardians.

Following the series, quotes from the coaching staff showed the menatlity that is now showing throughout the clubhouse. Murphy said "it wasn't perfect. A lot of points from our young guys where it’s August and they’re still making mistakes. You get kind of emotional about it. But they bounced back."

Hitting coach Ozzie Timmons said “The main thing is, don’t be in awe of the Dodgers” and that mentality showed. At no point were the young Brewers phased by their opponents, the names on the mound, the names at the plate, they are tight-knit as a group and believe they can take on the world.

Some other quotes from the players that show this mentality:

Rhys Hoskins: “I think what’s impressive is getting beat the way we did in the first two games of this series and then responding the way we did.” "I think we can grab a lot of confidence knowing that we can get punched in the face and get knocked down, and be right back in a series.”

William Contreras: “Everybody knows the Dodgers are a good team. We know we are as well.”

Jackson Chourio: "We know we can compete with anybody. We were able to come out on top, regardless of what it looked like.”

Earlier this season, Murphy passed out t-shirts that said "Undaunted" on them and he reminded the media of this recently. As a team they are showing this mindset and it only boads well for what this team can acheive this season and in the future, especially under the stewardship of Pat Murphy.