The streaky Milwaukee Brewers hope to end a downward trend when they continue a six-game trip with a three-game set against the Oakland Athletics starting Friday night.
Both teams played afternoon affairs on Thursday, and each continued a recent pattern.
The Brewers were beaten 3-0 on the road by the St. Louis Cardinals, a second straight defeat following a six-game winning streak.
Milwaukee had won five in a row, then lost three straight, before the six-game flurry.
Coming off the shutout loss, the Brewers expect Blake Perkins to return to the starting lineup in the opener in Oakland. The outfielder/DH hasn’t played since Aug. 11 because of a calf injury.
Perkins is one of Milwaukee’s top hitters against left-handed pitchers, with a .290 average against them. Oakland is scheduled to start lefty JP Sears on Friday.
“This time of year, you’ve got to kind of try to play through things if you can,” Perkins noted. “Lucky for me, it was just a little bit of rest, and I’m hoping to just be good the rest of the time.”
Meanwhile, Oakland has won or tied five consecutive series thanks to a 3-1 win Thursday over the Tampa Bay Rays that squared the four-game set at 2-2.
The A’s have allowed just 10 runs in their last six games.
Manager Mark Kotsay praised his starting staff for putting his team in a position to win on a daily basis by taking some of the burden off what had been a busy bullpen.
“The confidence is high,” he said of his starters. “All these guys have been able to get through five innings, six, deeper. And the bullpen, at the start of the week they were pretty tired. It was great (Thursday) to have all the guys lined up and utilize them in their roles and it worked.”
Five relievers contributed to Thursday’s six-hit effort, combining for four shutout innings.
Hoping to keep the run going will be Sears (10-8, 4.15), who is unbeaten in his last four starts, going 3-0 with a 1.57 ERA. The 28-year-old got the win in his only career start against the Brewers, allowing two runs in five innings in an 8-6 road victory in June 2023.
The A’s swept that three-game set in Milwaukee. The Brewers haven’t won a series at Oakland since taking three of four in 1995.
The Brewers are expected to counter in the opener Friday with righty Aaron Civale (4-8, 4.78), who is on a nice little run of his own. After going winless over his first five starts for the Brewers following an in-season trade from the Rays, Civale has won each of his last two outings, allowing a total of two runs in 12 1/3 innings against the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians.
The 29-year-old, a former American Leaguer, doesn’t have a decision to show for either of his previous lifetime head-to-heads with the A’s. He is 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA in two starts.
–Field Level Media