Brewers' Pat Murphy Sends Jackson Chourio Message After Loss to Blue Jays

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Gavin Groe | Last updated Aug 31, 2025 5:52 PM ET

The Milwaukee Brewers have been the best team in the league since beginning the month of August with a 14-game winning streak, and sent a strong message to the rest of the league after taking the weekend series against the AL’s best team, the Toronto Blue Jays.

Milwaukee also received key reinforcements on Saturday with the return of star outfielder Jackson Chourio, who made an immediate impact by smashing the go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth inning in a 4–1 win.

Chourio showed no signs of the hamstring injury that sidelined him for nearly the entire month of August. Getting back the 21-year-old will be a huge boost for a Brewers lineup that has thrived in his absence.

Through 107 appearances, Chourio has posted a .278 batting average, .313 on-base percentage, .794 OPS, 18 home runs, and 18 stolen bases.

On Sunday, Milwaukee fell to the Blue Jays in the finale by a final score of 8–4. Although Chourio had a productive day at the plate—going 4-for-5 with two runs scored—his defensive mishaps in the fifth inning allowed two fly balls to drop in the outfield, directly leading to three runs for Toronto and Brandon Woodruff being pulled early.

Manager Pat Murphy addressed Chourio and Isaac Collins postgame via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Todd Rosiak: “The outfield was very tough today. It's where you're positioned. I just felt like the defense in general wasn't in sync.”

Murphy continued, “You can't play defense like that and base run like that and win, especially against a team as good as the Blue Jays. We haven't played like that in a while. Very uncharacteristic. Certainly unacceptable. That's not us, but it was today.”

Murphy on the two fifth-inning fly balls that dropped between Chourio and Collins:

"The outfield was very tough today. It's where you're positioned. I just felt like the defense in general wasn't in sync."
— Todd Rosiak (@Todd_Rosiak) August 31, 2025

Murphy is right to say it was uncharacteristic of Chourio, who’s graded out as one of the league’s best outfielders according to Statcast’s Outs Above Average metric, with 4 OAA—thanks in large part to his elite sprint speed, which ranks among the fastest in baseball.

Chourio is likely shaking off the rust from his hamstring injury and learning to trust it again, as Sunday marked just his second game back at the major-league level.

Milwaukee, along with Chourio, will aim to bounce back on Monday against the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies, with rookie sensation Jacob Misiorowski on the mound.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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