ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Milwaukee baseball team struggled offensively in the third and final game of the series against Oakland, falling by a score of 3-1 from the Oakland Baseball Field Sunday.
Runs came at a premium in the final game of the series and Milwaukee (16-12, 5-6) came up short in Sundays series finale. The Golden Grizzlies' pitching staff (7-20, 6-5) held the Panthers to one run, run hit in the 3-1 loss.
"Sometimes you have to tip your cap to the pitcher and today that was the case," said head coach
Scott Doffek. "We also got a good start out of Mike (Edwards) and George (Swedie) out of the bullpen, but came up short today."
Oakland struck first in the second inning with a run on two hits. The Golden Grizzlies threatened with bases loaded, but MKE's
Mike Edwards limited the damage to just one run when Mike Mcgee flew out to center the next at-bat to end the inning.
The Golden Grizzlies added a run in the third inning to extend its lead to 2-0.
Milwaukee had its chances to score in the fifth inning with back-to-back walks from
Oakland Scanlan and
Mike Ferri, but the Panthers were unable to come up with the clutch hit and put out in order the next two at-bats.
In the sixth, Milwaukee put some pressure on Oakland when
Matt Quartel bunted for a single and advanced to second thanks to an Oakland throwing error. Quartel then advanced to third on a
Trevor Schwecke ground ball, and crossed the plate when
Joe Vyskocil grounded out to the shortstop to cut the lead in half, 2-1.
The Panthers extended the inning when
Colin Kreiter was hit by the pitch and Scanlan earned a walk to load the bases, but the Oakland pitching staff limited the damage to just one run striking out the next Panther batter to end the inning.
Oakland added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to regain a two-run lead. From there, the Oakland pitching staff continued its dominate pitching and put the Panthers down in order to end the game.
The Panthers will look to rebound Tuesday against Big Ten opponent Northwestern. The game will be played in Mequon (Wis.) at Kapco Park with first set for 6:30 p.m.
