OAKLAND -- The way JP Sears has performed for most of this season, especially over the past couple of months, it has become almost guaranteed that the A’s will have at least a chance to win whenever he takes the mound.

Entering Friday, Sears had allowed three runs or fewer in eight of his last nine starts dating back to June 28. If you eliminate the one clunker from that stretch, a start in which he allowed seven earned runs against the Astros on July 24, his ERA was 1.94 (11 earned runs in 51 innings pitched) in those eight other starts.

That’s why Sears’ outing in Friday night’s series opener against the Brewers was a bit unexpected. The A’s fell behind early as a result of the left-hander getting hit hard -- Sears allowed seven runs (five earned) on a season-high tying nine hits and one walk with three strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings -- in an 11-3 loss at the Coliseum.

“Just some mistakes,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “This is a pretty good hitting team. The middle of their lineup can do some damage, as we saw tonight. You make mistakes up in the zone against a good hitting team, they’re going to take advantage of it. JP’s [velocity] might have been down a tick today, which could have had some impact as well.”

One marked improvement from last season for Sears has been his ability to limit the long ball. After ranking among the league leaders with 34 home runs allowed in 32 starts in 2023, Sears has only allowed 19 big flies through his first 24 starts this season.

On Friday, Milwaukee got to Sears in a five-run second inning. Most of the damage came on back-to-back homers, starting with a three-run blast by Rhys Hoskins on a 1-2 sweeper low in the zone, followed by a solo shot from Joey Ortiz on a first-pitch fastball left over the middle.

“Obviously, not happy with how today went,” said Sears, who snapped a streak of four consecutive games of seven or more innings, the longest by an A’s pitcher since Sonny Gray’s four-game streak in 2015. “The back-to-back home runs definitely hurt. That was really the big thing. I just felt like I didn’t really throw my changeup that well today and left some fastballs over the middle of the plate. The three-run home run to Hoskins was just a sweeper I was trying to get a little bit more up and in. … Good swing by him. He was kind of hunting it earlier in the at-bat. I probably should have recognized that and maybe gone with something else.”

One signal that Sears may not have been pitching at his best was the ineffectiveness of his sweeper, a pitch that has emerged as one of the better offerings in his arsenal. He threw 21 sweepers and sliders against the Brewers and failed to generate a single whiff, marking just the fourth time this season he’s gone through an outing without a swing and miss by an opposing batter on either of those pitches.

Sears noted that Milwaukee’s righty-heavy lineup meant there would be less of a focus on trying to throw his sweeper for swing and miss. Not having a strong feel for his changeup was the more costly factor.

“I just didn’t really get a good rhythm with my offspeed,” Sears said. “I just threw a lot of fastballs today, and I felt good with it at times, but I left some over the middle of the plate. Not throwing the changeup great kind of made the fastball a little worse and put more pressure on the sweeper. It’s one of those days I just want to forget.”

It was also a night the A’s offense will want to forget. Despite chasing Brewers starter Aaron Civale after just four innings, Oakland struggled to mount any real threats following his departure. Facing Milwaukee’s bullpen for the final five innings, the A’s were held to just one hit after the fourth. All five of their hits after Lawrence Butler’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the first were singles.

“Offensively, we got pretty much shut down,” Kotsay said. “Their bullpen is pretty good. We saw that tonight. You saw the arms that came out of it. They pounded the zone. … Overall, not our best night. We’ll turn the page and look forward to tomorrow.”