After winning five of seven games on the road, the Milwaukee Brewers will turn to right-hander Colin Rea in an effort to keep their surge going when they return home to open a three-game series Friday night against the New York Yankees.
Rea (2-0, 2.08 ERA) will be opposed by Yankees right-hander Luis Gil (1-1, 2.75).
New York lost 3-1 at home Thursday night to Oakland despite outhitting the Athletics 11-6. Jose Trevino’s second-inning solo homer accounted for the only run as the Yankees stranded 11 and were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Milwaukee, meanwhile, rallied for a 7-5 victory at Pittsburgh on Thursday, bailing out ace Freddy Peralta, who left trailing 5-4 after 4 2/3 innings.
Gary Sanchez put the Brewers in front 6-5 with a pinch-hit, two-run homer with two outs in the eighth on a 102-mph offering from Aroldis Chapman.
“He’s a veteran hitter, and he’s given us a big lift doing that,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of Sanchez, who was signed as a free agent in late February. “That won the game for us. Changed the momentum of the game. Did it off one of the best closers in a long time.”
Catcher William Contreras remained hot, going 2-for-4 with a solo homer on Thursday. Contreras finished the road trip 11-for-29 (.379) with one homer and five RBIs. Over the past 10 games, the Brewers’ bullpen is 6-0, allowing five earned runs in 43 2/3 innings for a 1.03 ERA.
Milwaukee won the final two games in Pittsburgh to salvage a series split after beginning the road trip with a three-game sweep in St. Louis, returning home a half-game in front of the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central. The Brewers are 12-4 on the road this season, tying the best road start in franchise history (2014).
Rea threw five scoreless innings in his most recent start but did not get the decision in a 2-0 victory over St. Louis on Sunday. Rea has pitched at least five innings in each of his four starts, allowing more than one earned on just one occasion. He is 1-0 with a 2.53 ERA in two career starts against New York.
With Thursday’s loss, the Yankees dropped into a tie with Baltimore atop the AL East.
Gil, who will make his fifth start, notched his first win in his most recent outing, allowing one unearned run on two hits in 5 2/3 innings, along with a career-high nine strikeouts, in a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.
Opponents are batting just .125 this season against Gil, who spent all of 2023 on the injured list after elbow surgery.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he wants Gil to learn to take the game in stride.
“There’s been a couple times early in the season here where I feel like things that have gone on in the game have affected Luis a little bit emotionally, and my message to him is, you can process something, take something in, but it’s like, we’ve got to move on to the next pitch,” Boone said Sunday.
–Field Level Media
