Brewers closer Devin Williams takes the blame for the loss to the Mets

Pat Murphy, just minutes removed from his Milwaukee Brewers' devastating Wild Card loss in Game 3 of the National League to the New York Mets at American Family Field, told reporters he believed some of his players may have had certain times Thursday trying to exceed her abilities night.

Closer Devin Williams was the only one he mentioned by name.

“To be honest, I think Devin tried too hard,” the manager said of his closer's ninth-inning performance, which will go down as one of the toughest in franchise history. Williams had a two-run lead and needed three outs to send his team to the NL Division Series in Philadelphia. Instead, however, he stalled badly.

He allowed a three-run home run to Pete Alonso and then an RBI single to Starling Marte, completely flipping the script in a 4-2 loss that extended the Brewers' fruitless postseason streak for at least another year.

“He was so pumped up,” Murphy continued, giving Williams a perfect score if he had wanted to take it.

But the 30-year-old refused.

“I’m not going to make any excuses,” Williams said when informed of Murphy’s comments. “I didn’t execute the way I should have. They got the job done, but I didn’t.”

It was a clear, mature step forward for Williams, whose first postseason breakthrough of 2021 came to an abrupt end when he hit a wall on the same night the Brewers won the NL Central Division.

Williams was named NL reliever of the year in 2023, his first time as Milwaukee's full-time closer, but missed the first four months of that season as he recovered from multiple stress fractures in his back diagnosed during spring training.

He returned in late July and was as good as ever the rest of the way, saving 14 of 15 games, posting a 1.25 ERA and 0.97 WHIP, and limiting opposing batters to a collective .133 average.

Williams then dominated the Mets in Game 2 on Wednesday, retiring from the lineup to help the Brewers stay even in the series. He was perfectly primed for success when Jake Bauers and Sal Frelick hit consecutive home runs in the seventh pitch and Freddy Peralta unexpectedly hit a home run pitching a 1-2-3 eighth.

“It was a great script for us,” Murphy said. “Devin was as good a closer as there is in baseball. He has been injured for most of this year. He was incredible. I would give him the ball game tomorrow in the same situation.”

No doubt the rest of the sellout crowd of 41,594 felt the same way as Williams took the mound to take on the top of the New York rankings – talented but not having accomplished much at this point in the game.

Leadoff man Francisco Lindor, who had both of the Mets' hits to that point, issued an eight-pitch walk.

Mark Vientos, who was next in line, scored four shots.

Then Brandon Nimmo hit a single to right, allowing Lindor to slide to third and bringing cleanup man Alonso to the plate.

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With one hit in eleven plate appearances in the series up to that point, Alonso edged Williams 3-1.

That let Williams move on to his favorite pitch, his “Airbender” change. Only he left it so far over the plate that Alonso got the run on it and sent it 354 feet to right for a game-winning home run that took all the air out of the ballpark.

“I mean, it could have been better. But it wasn't the worst pitch I've ever thrown,” said Williams, who had yet to give up a home run on a changeup to that point this season. “I wanted to put an end to it, I did it.

“Good job.”

Williams recovered by getting Jose Iglesias eliminated, but then hit Jesse Winker, who stole second place from him. That proved to be great as Starling Marte hit a single to right to score Winker and give the Mets a two-run lead.

With 34 pitches, Williams was finished and Murphy came in to replace him with Joe Ross.

It was just a stunning turn of events.

Milwaukee's offense was unable to respond in the bottom of the ninth, leaving New York to Philadelphia.

“It’s baseball,” Murphy said. “They have three top-tier players in Lindor, Nimmo and Alonso, and they did what they can — a walk, a base hit and a home run on the opposite field.”

“This inning was about the Mets. They were great. These three players are all-stars. They have long-term contracts for a reason. They're great players and they've had one hell of a ride here to play the extra games.

“All credit goes to the Mets.”

Williams also took out his cap.

“I think I could have mastered it better and put myself in a better position,” Williams said. “Some good swings from them too. You have to give credit where it’s due.”

Williams' predecessor, Josh Hader, allowed a game-winning home run to Freddie Freeman in Game 4 of the 2021 NLDS – an error that ultimately ended the Brewers' season.

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But Milwaukee was already down 2-1 in the series, far from being three outs away from advancing like Thursday.

“This is a huge disappointment,” Williams said. “We have worked all year to get to this point. They gave me a two-run lead there in the ninth.

“No one has it worse than me.”

The Brewers have a $10.5 million option on Williams for 2025. He has proven that he is one of the best in the game. But Milwaukee has also shown it will make forward-thinking decisions when it comes to high-paid players approaching free agency — with Hader moving on in 2022 and Corbin Burnes eight months ago being traded.

Will Williams wear Brewers jerseys again next season? Only time will tell.

“This is the closest team I’ve ever played on. That makes it even more disappointing,” Williams said of the season’s abrupt end. “Everyone did their job except me.”

“I feel like I let everyone down.”

Trevor Megill, who took over the role of closer when Williams was down and made 21 saves on 24 opportunities, jumped in to his teammate's defense.

“That’s our guy,” he said. “This is baseball, and (things like this) happen. But that’s our guy.”

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