Game Thread #21: Milwaukee Brewers (11-9) vs. Athletics (9-11)

Chad Patrick and the Brewers look to extend win streak to four

The Brewers head into the second game of their three-game series against the Las Vegas Athletics of Sacramento tonight, after last night’s 5-3 victory.

While I am and have always been a Brewers fan, I grew up about forty minutes from Oakland, so it bothers me to have to refer to such a storied franchise as simply “the Athletics.” Doing so is an attempt to minimize how badly A’s owner John Fisher screwed over both the city of Oakland and his own team, which is currently playing in a minor league stadium in Sacramento with 10,000 permanent seats.

Like Paul so eloquently put it yesterday, I refuse. The Las Vegas A’s of Sacramento feels befitting, both in its ridiculousness and its descriptiveness. Therefore, that is how I’m choosing to refer to the A’s.

Now, let’s talk about tonight’s game.

Milwaukee will be starting Chad Patrick, who has pitched to a 1.76 ERA in four appearances (three starts) so far this season. Patrick’s stuff is pretty underwhelming, and he’s only made it through five innings in one of his starts (5 1/3 IP in that game). The peripherals don’t necessarily support Patrick’s breakout — for example, his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) is over twice as high as his ERA (4.79). At the same time, he’s also given up one run in 14 1/3 innings pitched since becoming a starter. He just keeps putting together solid starts, so it’s hard to bet against him continuing to do the same.

On the hill for the A’s is veteran righty Luis Severino. Severino returned to form last year, posting the highest WAR season he’s had since his All-Star days with the Yankees. He’s been pitching well this season, too, sporting a 4.01 ERA (3.91 last year) through four starts.

It’s mostly more of the same as far as the lineup goes for Milwaukee — no off days for any of the starters. Caleb Durbin, presumably the new starter at third base, looks to build on his two-hit MLB debut. He looked like an improvement over the Oliver Dunn/Vinny Capra platoon yesterday, which I know isn’t a particularly high bar. Hopefully Durbin can prove he’s the answer at third base for this season, even if he might not be the long-term answer.

The Brewers could use a little more out of the bottom half of their lineup in general. Rhys Hoskins strung together a couple of good games, but went 0-fer yesterday. Garrett Mitchell went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts yesterday. Joey Ortiz hasn’t had a hit in a couple games. Ortiz and Mitchell are both hitting under .220. In spite of this, Milwaukee is averaging 4.85 runs a game, basically the same as last year’s figure (4.78).

First pitch is at 6:10 p.m. on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network. Today’s full lineups, for both teams, are below: