The visiting Milwaukee Brewers will send recently acquired right-hander Frankie Montas to the mound on Thursday as they go for the three-game sweep against the faltering Atlanta Braves.
The Brewers won 10-0 on Tuesday and 8-5 on Wednesday to take a 3-2 lead in the season series. Milwaukee leads the National League Central by six games.
The Braves have lost four in a row and have dropped into the third and final NL wild-card position, only a half-game ahead of the New York Mets.
Montas (5-8, 5.03 ERA) will be matched against Atlanta’s Charlie Morton (6-6, 3.94) in the final regular-season meeting between the teams.
Montas will make his 21st start of the season and the second since being acquired from the Cincinnati Reds at the trade deadline. He made his Brewers debut on Friday and earned a win after pitching five-plus innings and allowing three runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and no walks against the Washington Nationals.
“I have been in that spot so many times,” Montas said. “One of the things I told myself going out there was not trying to do too much. Just be you. Everybody knows who you are. Just go out there and have fun.”
Montas has made one career start against Atlanta, on July 24 in his final outing for the Reds. He pitched 4 1/3 innings and allowed four runs on a season-high 10 hits with three walks and six strikeouts in a no-decision.
Morton bounced back from a poor start against the New York Mets (seven runs, five earned, in 2 2/3 innings) to throw six strong innings against the Miami Marlins on Aug. 1. He allowed one run, which was unearned, on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts. He didn’t allow a home run after giving up three against the Mets and seven overall in four July starts.
“I felt good about my delivery,” Morton said afterward. “I felt good about my four-seamer. It was getting good spin off the top. I can afford to give up hits if my four-seamer is working and my breaking ball is there.”
Morton owns a 5-8 record and a 3.91 ERA in 17 career starts against the Brewers. He has not pitched against Milwaukee since 2022.
Morton will be challenged by a Milwaukee lineup that has produced 16 hits in each of the past two games.
Rhys Hoskins had three hits on Wednesday and has hit safely in 12 consecutive games, one game shy of his longest career run, which he produced in August 2017. During the current streak, Hoskins is hitting .326 (15-for-46) with four homers and nine RBIs.
Joey Ortiz is 5-for-8 in the series and Jackson Chourio is 5-for-11. Willy Adames was hitless on Wednesday after going 4-for-5 with two homers in the series opener. He is batting .310 (35-for-113) since the start of July after hitting .229 previously this year.
Atlanta ended its 24-inning scoreless streak on Wednesday. Austin Riley doubled, homered and drove in three runs. Orlando Arcia had two hits, extending his streak of reaching base to a career-best 19 games.
After the Thursday afternoon game, the Braves head out on a 10-game road trip, starting with a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies that begins Friday. The Brewers return home to start a 10-game homestand, opening with a three-game series against Cincinnati on Friday.
–Field Level Media
