Pat Murphy's gutsy Game 3 bullpen move overshadowed by horrible Brewers collapse

The Milwaukee Brewers were just two outs away from heading to the NLDS with a win over the New York Mets before it all unraveled.

This one was as stressful as they come, as the win-or-go-home matchup was scoreless until the bottom of the seventh inning but then featured all sorts of scoring from both sides in the final innings.

Jake Bauers, pinch-hitting for Rhys Hoskins, was the one to bust things open. He hit a massive home run to right field off of Jose Butto that got the AmFam crowd buzzing. On the very next pitch, Sal Frelick sent a ball to the next town over, giving the Crew a 2-0 lead — one that felt like it would hold with the back end of the Brewers bullpen now responsible for standing firm.

Brewers collapse in Wild Card round, overshadowing smart Pat Murphy move

Since this was an elimination game, Pat Murphy and the Brewers were prepared to be as aggressive as necessary to bring home the win. In a surprising move, he brought in starting pitcher Freddy Peralta to handle the top of the eighth inning.

Peralta had just thrown 68 pitches two days ago in a start against these very same Mets, but Murphy had to play this card if he wanted to ensure he got his best guy out there.

To Peralta (and Murphy)'s credit, he did what was expected of him. The right-hander needed just 13 pitches (nine strikes) to retire the Mets in order. Typically, a move like this is one that shuts down the opposition and bridges the gap to the team's closer. That's how it was supposed to work out, but we all know how this ended.

Peralta did his part, but it was super-closer Devin Williams who singlehandedly lost the game. He doesn't deserve to be knocked even further down, but Peralta had set this thing up perfectly and everything was in motion to get the Brewers to the NLDS.

Williams allowed a three-run home run to Pete Alonso and the Mets never relinquished that lead, even scoring another run later in the inning to rub a little more salt in Milwaukee's wound.

Murphy's galaxy-brain move could have and should have been remembered as one that was crazy at the time but was well worth the risk. Using Peralta for the second time in three days was extremely aggressive, but the move ended up getting swallowed by another horrific playoff collapse.