OAKLAND -- While the A’s have surged forward as one of the better teams in baseball over the past couple of months, the Brewers have established themselves among the upper echelon of MLB, and they showed why for most of this three-game series between the two clubs.

Handing the A’s just their second series loss since mid-July by taking the first two games, Milwaukee did what most teams of its caliber does to separate itself by taking advantage of opportunities and adding on to leads late.

After taking those earlier lumps, however, the A’s bounced back in Sunday’s series finale for a 4-3 victory in which they displayed traits that were absent the previous two days.

Facing former A’s starter Frankie Montas for the first time since trading him to the Yankees during the 2022 season, Oakland broke through after three hitless innings for a four-run fourth that saw eight batters come to the plate with productive plate appearances abound, as three of the four runs scored on either a walk or sacrifice fly.

Starter Joey Estes paced the A’s by limiting the Brewers to two runs on two hits with a walk and five strikeouts. His only real blemish was a two-run home run surrendered to Gary Sánchez in the second. Following the homer, Estes retired 13 of his final 14 batters faced and did not allow a hit.