ARLINGTON, Texas — This is the same way the season started for the Milwaukee Brewers, long before they had the best record in the major leagues.
Now in September, and still on the verge of being the first team to clinch a playoff spot, the Brewers (89-58) were just swept in three games in Texas by the injury-plagued and playoff-chasing Rangers. It was the first time for Milwaukee to be swept since being outscored 36-14 in the first three games of the season at the New York Yankees in late March.
“We haven’t had too many of these,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after their 6-3 loss in the series finale at Texas on Wednesday. “It stinks, but I don’t think there’s any team in baseball that over 300 games that’s only been swept three times.”
Milwaukee was swept only once last season — in three games at Philadelphia in early June — on its way to winning a second consecutive NL Central title.
“I’m still proud of our guys and love our guys,” Murphy said. “It’s not lack of effort, it’s not letting down. It’s maybe the opposite. They’re exhausted and we’re beat up and we’re injured and things did not go our way this week.”
The Brewers (89-58) now have a day off before opening a three-game home series against St. Louis on Friday night, then get another day off before hosting the Los Angeles Angels for three games. Milwaukee still had a six-game division lead over Chicago before the Cubs played at Atlanta on Wednesday night.
The Rangers also get a day off before Jacob deGrom, who won two NL Cy Young Awards in his nine seasons with the Mets (2014-22), faces them for the first time in the opener of a three-game series in New York. They then go to Houston for three games against the AL West-leading Astros, who went into their game Wednesday at Toronto only two games up in the division.
Milwaukee led 2-0 in the finale at Texas after Brice Turang and Jackson Chourio opened the game with back-to-back homers. The Brewers were then down 5-2, mainly because of two homers by Jake Burger, before finally scoring again.
The Rangers (77-70) are an MLB-best 14-4 since Aug. 22, and moved to seven games over .500 for the first time this season. They have done that with 11-game winner Nathan Eovaldi, two-time World Series MVP shortstop Corey Seager, second baseman Marcus Semien, slugging right fielder Adolis García and center fielder Evan Carter among the players on the injured list, and a bunch of fill-in rookies making impact plays.
“You keep the same approach. This was a great homestand, a great series,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “So we’ll keep talking about, well, every series is big, every game is big. And these guys are doing a great job of putting not just the losses behind them, but the wins and keeping their focus and just playing great baseball.”
All-Star right-hander Freddy Peralta (16-6) struck out nine over five innings but missed a chance to be the first MLB pitcher to 17 wins. His scoreless streak of 30 innings since Aug. 5 ended on Burger’s first homer that led off the second. Texas went ahead in the third when Peralta had his only two walks and allowed two runs, one on a balk when he didn’t come set when he thought the batter was motioning for a timeout.
“It was a little confusion,” Peralta said. “When I looked, it surprised me as well. I did balk. Yeah, I did.”
Peralta said he and the Brewers just have to move on and pointed out that it was a 3-3 trip after they won all three games at Pittsburgh last weekend.
They now get a week at home, with a chance during that time to finally lock in a postseason berth. They could also move closer to winning their third division title in a row, something they have never done.
“We’re coming back home now,” he said. “And I know that good things are coming. It’s just prepare for that.”