Milwaukee @ Oakland preview

Milwaukee at Oakland

Last Meeting ( Aug 24, 2024 ) Milwaukee 9, Oakland 5

Right-hander Frankie Montas will get an opportunity to take one last stroll down memory lane when he returns to the old Coliseum to face his former team Sunday afternoon as the Milwaukee Brewers close out a three-game series against the Oakland Athletics.

One week after A's player Matt Chapman left the Coliseum with third base in hand, Montas is slated to toe a familiar pitchers' slab when the Brewers go for a series sweep in their last-ever visit to Oakland.

The A's are scheduled to play their home games in Sacramento next season, en route to a permanent home in Las Vegas beginning in 2028.

Acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in August 2016, Montas pitched 114 games for the A's, 89 as a starter. His best season was 2021, when he finished sixth in the American League Cy Young Award balloting after going 13-9 in 32 starts.

He has since pitched for the New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds and now the Brewers, going 8-11 the last three seasons after posting a 35-30 record with Oakland.

Montas has not pitched in Oakland since being dealt to the Yankees in August 2022. In fact, his only previous experience against Oakland came as a reliever in his fourth major-league appearance as a rookie for the Chicago White Sox in 2015, throwing two shutout innings.

Now 31, Montas has appeared in three postseason games. He looks forward to another extended campaign as part of an impressive pitching staff for the National League Central-leading Brewers.

"These guys over here, they're pretty amazing," he said. "They have a pretty good knowledge of what they're doing out there. I'm just trying to get as much information as I can to try to be on the next level that they are."

Montas (6-8, 4.57 ERA) has made four starts for the Brewers since being acquired from the Reds at the July deadline. He's gone 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA with Milwaukee.

Oakland will go with right-hander Joey Estes (5-6, 4.44), a 22-year-old who was traded into the A's organization from the Atlanta Braves in 2022.

The second-year major-leaguer has pitched well in his past seven games, going 2-2 with a 2.82 ERA. His season ERA has dropped from 5.29 over that stretch.

He has never faced the Brewers, who have impressed A's manager Mark Kotsay with more than just their bats and arms in the 11-3 and 9-5 series-opening wins.

"You see their athleticism; you see their speed," he observed. "That's one of the big reasons they're playing the baseball they're playing right now."

Milwaukee enters play Sunday 11 games over .500 and with a 10.5-game lead over the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central. The A's are out of the postseason picture.

--Field Level Media