Athletics' bats break out late with bombs to rally past Brewers

LAS VEGAS - Carlos Cortes and Lawrence Butler each homered in a seventh-inning rally to give the Athletics a 4-3 comeback victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night in the deciding game of the three-game series at the home of the A's Triple-A affiliate.

After being held to one run through six innings by Brandon Sproat, the A's, who pounded out 12 homers in the first two games of the series, immediately broke through against the bullpen.

Cortes greeted reliever Chad Patrick (3-3) in the seventh with a leadoff homer, his sixth, to pull the A's within 3-2. Zack Gelof doubled and Butler followed with his fourth homer.

Scott Barlow (2-0) retired two of the three batters he faced for the victory. Hogan Harris escaped a two-aboard jam in the eighth with an inning-ending double play, and Elvis Alvarado finished with a perfect ninth for his first save.

Sproat, 1-3 with a 5.97 ERA over his last seven starts, took a two-hit shutout into the sixth before Alika Williams got the A's on the board with his first career homer, a one-out solo shot to cut the Brewers lead to 3-1.

The Brewers capitalized on a pair of leadoff homers off Jack Perkins for a 3-0 lead.

Gary Sanchez opened the second inning with his seventh homer to put Milwaukee up 2-0.

Jackson Chourio did the same the following inning, jumping on the first pitch from Perkins for his sixth homer.

The Brewers scored one in the first when Christian Yelich walked to open, advanced on a groundout, and scored from second on Andrew Vaughn's two-out single.

Perkins, making his second consecutive start after 17 relief outings, allowed three runs on five hits in four innings, striking out four and walking three.

After a day off, the A's will conclude their six-game homestand in Las Vegas against Colorado. The A's are currently playing home games in West Sacramento, Calif., until their new stadium opens in Las Vegas for the start of the 2028 season.

--Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media