The suddenly struggling Milwaukee Brewers will turn to right-hander Colin Rea in a bid to avoid a three-game sweep against the visiting Washington Nationals on Sunday afternoon.
Rea (8-3, 3.81 ERA) will be opposed by right-hander Jake Irvin (7-7, 3.13 ERA).
The Brewers suffered a gut-wrenching loss Saturday when CJ Abrams delivered a two-run homer in the ninth inning as the Nationals erased an early five-run deficit and rallied for a 6-5 victory.
Washington, which trailed 5-0 after one inning, scored three runs in the fourth before Luis Garcia Jr.’s leadoff pinch-hit homer in the seventh made it a one-run game.
Nationals starter Mitchell Parker failed to make it out of the first inning and was lifted after 46 pitches. Five relievers combined to keep Milwaukee in check the rest of the way.
“Everybody in that bullpen today gave me everything they had,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said. “(Sunday’s) going to be a different story. We’ll see how we do, but we need some length out of our starter, Jake. And hopefully we score runs early.”
It was just the second loss of the season for the Brewers when leading after eight innings (49-2). Milwaukee, which has led the National League Central since April 30, has lost seven of its last nine games. After winning nine consecutive home series, the Brewers have dropped both series on this homestand.
“You’ve got to tack on runs and keep playing hard,” manager Pat Murphy said. “The bottom line is we played well enough to win but they played a little bit better when they needed to.”
Rea struggled his last time out, allowing seven runs in five-plus innings in a 12-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, his first defeat since May 19. Rea allowed five consecutive singles to start a decisive six-run sixth inning.
“I felt like things were rolling pretty good,” Rea said after his last start. “I felt like we executed pitches in the sixth inning; I just wouldn’t say they were particularly sharp. They were executed, but they didn’t have a lot behind them, a lot of sharpness to them.”
Over his last seven games, Rea is 4-1 with a 3.86 ERA. His eight victories this season are a team high.
Rea allowed one earned run over 6 1/3 innings in his lone career start against the Nationals, which came in 2016 with the San Diego Padres.
Irvin struggled with his command in his most recent start, getting tagged for six runs on nine hits in six innings in a 7-5 loss to the New York Mets on Tuesday.
“The curveball shape and the fastball shape were pretty bad today,” Irvin said afterward. “They were a little different than they normally are. I’ll go back and look at [the video] and see what the issue was. But definitely not being able to throw them consistently was an issue.”
Irvin was 4-1 with a 2.31 ERA in six starts in June. He is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA in two starts this month.
Irvin’s only two career starts versus Milwaukee came last season. He went 0-1, allowing six runs in 10 innings, striking out eight and walking seven.
–Field Level Media
