Can the A’s make it four wins in a row?
Fresh of a sweep of the White Sox, the Athletics are now in fourth place in the AL West as they head to Milwaukee on a roll and will be hoping to keep the momentum going into a new series against an NL foe. The Brewers await the Athletics for a weekend series at American Family Field, where they’ve enjoyed a strong home field advantage this year.
The Brewers sit at 10-9, good for second place in the NL Central. They’ve been a middle of the pack team in both the run scoring and run prevention departments. Their pitching has been slightly worse as their staff has allowed the 4th-most runs in all of baseball so far. They’ve been hit hard by injuries especially to their starters and their pitching depth is being tested early in the season. It hasn’t held up well but they’ve done enough to stick around .500 and just need to keep their team afloat while their reinforcements get healthy. The Brewers have a near-even -2 run differential on the season but have won two straight games entering the series.
Meanwhile the A’s are coming off a great series that saw them go to Chicago and take care of business against a worse team. They got excellent production out of their pitchers in Chicago as they allowed a total of four runs during the entire series, with three of them coming in the first inning of the first game on a 3-run home run. Not to be outdone the offense feasted against White Sox pitchers, racking up 23 runs during the series, including seven home runs (3 from Tyler Soderstrom).
Taking the ball for the Athletics on Friday evening in the first contest will be rookie right-hander JT Ginn. Set to make just his second start of the year after getting promoted last weekend, Ginn will look to build off a strong start in his last outing where he pitched into the sixth inning and allowed just one earned run against a dangerous Mets lineup. He’ll be opposed by Brewers ace Freddy Peralta, who is off to another typically excellent start to the year. The righty owns a 2.31 ERA over his first three starts as he’s leading a rotation lacking in proven talent.
The second game of the series will feature a matchup between Luis Severino and Chad Patrick. Severino is coming off a bounce back performance after putting up a couple duds recently. He’s been up and down so far in his first year with the Athletics so consistency is what the veteran right-hander is on the lookout for. He’s sporting a 4.01 ERA through his first four starts.
Patrick meanwhile might be a name familiar to hardcore prospect watchers. Patrick was a former A’s farmhand, originally acquired from the Diamondbacks for Jace Peterson. The A’s then traded him to Milwaukee in exchange for former third baseman Abraham Toro. Patrick has continued to ascend up the minor league ladder and finally made it to the major leagues for the first time this year. He’s been impressive since arriving to The Show, posting a superb 1.76 ERA in his first four appearances. The A’s will try to hike that number way up.
Wrapping up the series on Sunday morning will be left-hander Jeffrey Springs. The veteran is coming off an overall quality start but got hit hard and early yet again. The first two innings have been a major problem for him this season as all the runs he’s allowed have come in those first two frames. If he can get off to a good start in the series finale the A’s will have a great chance to finish the road trip on a winning note.
As of this posting we don’t yet know who the Brew Crew will counter Springs with so we will keep an eye out for any updates.