Rhys Hoskins and Joey Ortiz hit back-to-back home runs in a five-run second inning, and the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Oakland Athletics 11-3 on Friday night.
The Brewers, who have won seven of their last nine games, sent nine batters to the plate in the second inning to take a 5-1 lead. Hoskins, who had been hitless in his last 21 at-bats before this game, gave Milwaukee the lead with a three-run home run after Willy Adames and Gary Sánchez got on base with singles.
On the next pitch, Ortiz hit a homer to left-center. Later in the inning, Andruw Monasterio scored from first base on a single by Jackson Chourio that went past A’s left fielder Miguel Andujar’s glove.
“It’s nice to jump on a team on the road early,” Hoskins said. “It puts you ahead of the eight ball a little bit, get some confidence for the pitcher to go out there and fill up the zone.”
Brewers manager Pat Murphy said that while hitting might seem contagious, it still depends on “swinging at the right pitches.”
“When everybody’s doing that, it feels really good,” Murphy said. “It reminds everybody, ‘If that’s what he’s doing, I’ve got to do that.’”
Chourio and Blake Perkins drove in runs in the fourth inning, increasing the lead to 7-1. Sánchez cleared the bases with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Hoskins in the ninth inning.
Hoskins has been making hard contact recently, even though he struggled to get results.
“That’s what makes this game hard,” Hoskins said. “Just continuing on with how I’ve been feeling within batting practice, doing what I can to help that translate in the game.”
Neither starting pitcher went five innings. The Brewers’ Aaron Civale gave up three runs in four innings, and the A’s JP Sears (10-9) left with two outs in the third inning after allowing five earned runs. Sears had come into the game with a 3-0 record and a 1.57 ERA over his last four starts.
