Pitching, defense not enough as bats absent vs. A's

MILWAUKEE -- Joey Wiemer did it on defense and Julio Teheran continued to shine on the mound.

Now, where is the Brewers’ offense?

William Contreras bought some extra time with his first career pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning, but the Brewers were otherwise silenced for the second straight game in Saturday’s 2-1 loss in 10 innings at American Family Field, against an Oakland pitching staff with the worst starters’ ERA and the worst bullpen ERA in the Majors.

“None of us in here were overlooking them. That’s kind of the outside noise,” Christian Yelich said. “They have a lot of guys with good stuff. It’s not always located, but when it’s located, it makes it tough on you.”

Now the lowly A’s, who improved to 16-50 this season and are riding a four-game winning streak, have taken consecutive series against the top two teams in the current NL Central standings, the Pirates and Brewers. The Brewers will have to win Sunday for fill-in skipper Pat Murphy to avoid getting swept while manager Craig Counsell attends his son’s high school graduation ceremony.

The Brewers have mustered just three runs in 19 innings against the A’s, and Contreras' home run is their lone extra-base hit in the last 17 of those.

“We’re just not doing enough,” Counsell said. “I don’t care who you’re playing, we’re not creating any pressure. I don’t think we had a man on third base with less than two outs today. We didn’t get any early action. A couple two-out first-and-thirds was all we had, and that’s just two innings.

“That’s not enough offense, and it’s going to get you beat.”

Contreras’ home run at least took Teheran off the hook for what would have been another tough-luck loss after he completed seven innings for the first time since Aug. 21, 2019, allowing just one A's run on a fielder’s choice off the bat of JJ Bleday. Teheran has a 1.48 ERA through four starts with Milwaukee.

The Brewers have done a terrible job supporting him. In the four games he’s pitched, Milwaukee has scored no runs, four runs, no runs and one run.

“It’s unfortunate,” Counsell said. “Four starts, three games where we just have not scored any runs for him. But seven strong innings today. … He’s done his job and more. Couldn’t be happier with what he’s done for us.”

Said Teheran: “That’s part of the game. I was happy I was able to hold the other team and [Brewers defenders] were able to make some defensive plays for me. I feel like my whole career has been like that. I remember back in the day when I was with the Braves, it was the same thing. For me, I’m just focusing on holding the other team as long as I can for us to score some runs. I know scoring runs isn’t easy.”

Wiemer helped out with sensational defense, becoming the first outfielder in Brewers history to record multiple assists in the same inning, according to Elias. He threw out Oakland’s Ramón Laureano trying to stretch a single into a double leading off the second inning, then combined with shortstop Willy Adames to throw out Jonah Bride at home plate to end that frame.

It was a beautiful relay, with Wiemer deftly fielding an Aledmys Díaz double on one hop off the center-field wall and throwing to Adames, who relayed home to catcher Victor Caratini.

“[Wiemer] has a pretty good gift of being able to get the ball out, and have a lot on it,” Yelich said. “Which is kind of rare. Usually it’s one or the other.”

Said Teheran of Wiemer: “He was really good today. That relay that they got in the second inning, I think that got me back on track.”

All that was missing were some runs for the Brewers, who didn’t score from the start of the third inning of Friday’s series opener through Contreras’ first career pinch-hit homer with two outs in the eighth inning of the middle game.

The bulk of Oakland’s innings on Saturday came from right-hander Paul Blackburn, a 2022 All-Star who missed time down the stretch last season with injury and had been limited to a pair of ‘23 starts coming into this weekend because of a fingernail issue this year.

“None of us thought this was going to be a cakewalk series, by any means,” Yelich said.