The Milwaukee Brewers achieved a 6-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday, and right-hander Brandon Sproat got the starting nod for the Brewers.

In four shutout innings of work, Sproat notched five strikeouts while allowing three walks and only one hit. After the game, Brewers manager Pat Murphy praised the second-year righty while simultaneously remaining honest about his current limitations.

"Sproat was very good," Murphy said. "And we know his limits. We've watched this and there's a lot to be happy about with Sproat. He made some big pitches at some big times, had way too many three-ball counts. Couldn't put anybody away in terms of off-speed stuff.

"But he's getting comfortable with his two seamer," Murphy added. "Which is a super effective pitch. He's just not totally comfortable with it."

In his start against the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 29, Sproat struggled over 4⅓ innings by allowing six hits, four earned runs, two home runs, and two walks. He provided a better performance on Wednesday, but he has a lot of room to grow through his first seven appearances in his sophomore season.

When it comes to navigating Sproat’s outings, Murphy praised catcher William Contreras for guiding the young pitcher.

"That's where William comes in," Murphy said. "William has to jockey him through some of those things and did a nice job today. We're trying to uphold our standards and our personal expectations, regardless of whether people think we're gonna be in the middle of the pack or whatever, we have our own."

Sproat, alongside top prospect Jett Williams, were the players that came to Milwaukee in the blockbuster trade that saw ace right-hander Freddy Peralta and reliever Tobias Myers head to the New York Mets in January. Both Sproat and Williams are young but have a lot of potential and upside.

However, as long as Sproat is on the major-league roster, Murphy will not allow him to struggle for the sake of learning through his mistakes.

"So, we're not gonna let guys just go out there and be on a learning curve," Murphy said. "We're gonna do what's right for the club too. But I think he's learning stuff, he's learning ‘I can do it, I'm good enough. I don't have to be sharp.’

"He certainly wasn't as sharp today as he was last week," he added. "But usually at that 60, 70 pitch mark, you see the stuff go down.

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