The shaky Milwaukee Brewers hope to end their downward trend by continuing their six-game stretch with a three-game series against the Oakland Athletics starting Friday night.
The two teams met on Thursday afternoon, with each continuing their recent patterns.
The Brewers lost 3-0 on the road to the St. Louis Cardinals, marking their second straight loss after six straight wins.
Prior to this six-game stretch, Milwaukee had won five straight before losing three in a row.
The Brewers are hoping to have Blake Perkins back in the starting lineup for their opener at Oakland, despite being shutout. The outfielder/designated hitter has not played since Aug. 11 because of a calf injury.
Perkins is one of Milwaukee’s top hitters against left-handed pitching, batting .290 against them. Oakland is scheduled to start left-hander J.P. Sears on Friday.
“You’ve got to try and play as much as you can during this time,” Perkins noted. “Luckily I only had to rest a little bit and hopefully I can stay in good form for the rest of the season.”
Meanwhile, Oakland beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 on Thursday to extend its four-game winning streak to a 2-2 tie and win or tie its fifth straight series.
The Athletics have allowed just 10 points in their past six games.
Manager Mark Kotsay praised his starting pitchers for taking the strain off a busy bullpen and putting the team in a position to win every day.
“Confidence is high,” he said of the starting pitchers. “All of those guys were able to go five, six or more innings. And our relievers were pretty tired at the start of the week. It was great to see all those guys lined up (Thursday) and did their thing and it worked out.”
Five relief pitchers combined to pitch four scoreless innings on Thursday, allowing just six hits.
Looking to continue that streak will be Sears (10-8, 4.15 ERA), who is unbeaten and 3-0 with a 1.57 ERA in his past four starts. The 28-year-old Sears earned the win in his only career start against the Brewers in a June 2023 road game, allowing just two runs over five innings, winning 8-6.
The Athletics won three games in Milwaukee. The Brewers haven’t won a series in Oakland since 1995, when they won three games in four.
The Brewers are expected to field in-form right-hander Aaron Civale (4-8, 4.78 ERA) in Friday’s Opening Day. Civale was winless in his first five starts with the Brewers after being traded from the Rays midseason, but he has won his last two starts, allowing just two runs in 12 1/3 innings against the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians.
The 29-year-old former American Leaguer has yet to record a decisive win in any of his previous meetings with the Athletics, going 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA in two starts.
–Field Level Media
