The Milwaukee Brewers will turn to Chad Patrick on the mound as they look to halt their six-game skid when they host the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night.
Patrick (1-0, 0.73 ERA) will oppose fellow right-hander Dylan Cease (0-0, 2.45).
Toronto won the series opener with a wild 9-7 comeback victory in 10 innings Tuesday. The Blue Jays scored three runs in the ninth off struggling closer Trevor Megill, only to see the Brewers tie the score at 6 with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Myles Straw doubled to drive in a pair of runs to key a three-run 10th inning, lifting Toronto to just its third win in the last 11 games.
“it’s huge. This is the best kind of win, in my opinion,” Straw said. “This is what we did a lot of last year, and last year we were a really good team. So that’s what it’s going to take.”
The losing streak is the Brewers’ longest since the team dropped six straight games in June 2023. Milwaukee is 0-4 on its current six-game homestand.
Cease, who will make his fourth start of the season, has allowed six runs (four earned) in 14 2/3 innings. He has struck out 26, walked nine and has yet to allow a homer.
Cease allowed two runs (one earned) in five innings in his most recent start but did not get a decision in a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers last Wednesday. He struck out eight but walked four in a 96-pitch outing.
Cease is 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA in four career starts vs. Milwaukee, with 32 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings. He faced the Brewers once last season while with the San Diego Padres, allowing one run on six hits without a decision in a 3-1 defeat.
Daulton Varsho, who played collegiately at nearby Wisconsin-Milwaukee, was 2-for-5 with a homer Tuesday to extend his hitting streak to five games. He is batting .409 with three homers, two doubles and six RBIs over that span.
Patrick will make his fourth appearance and third start of the season. He came out of the bullpen his last time out, following an opener with three scoreless innings in his team’s 7-3 loss to the Nationals on Friday.
Patrick has allowed just one run in 12 1/3 innings, with seven strikeouts and five walks. He has yet to face the Blue Jays in his career.
Megill, who had 30 saves in 36 chances last season, is 0-2 with a 14.40 ERA. Tuesday was his first blown save in three opportunities. In his previous outing, he allowed four runs, facing five batters without getting an out.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy would not rule out a change at closer.
“We’ll see. I don’t know for sure. I like to talk to other people about it,” Murphy said. “Obviously you can’t have a guy go out there six times and three times not do the job. The way he’s throwing the ball now, he doesn’t deserve it.”
Both Jake Bauers and Gary Sanchez hit their fifth homers of the season for Milwaukee in Tuesday’s loss, giving them a combined 10 of the team’s 18 homers.
Third baseman Luis Rengifo, signed as a free agent by the Brewers during the offseason, is batting .128 and is hitless in his last 19 at-bats.
–Field Level Media
