Longtime Brewers prospect Lucas Erceg pitching at American Family Field with Oakland

Lucas Erceg said he moved deliberately getting dressed in Durham, "delaying the inevitable in my head."

He'd been summoned to the manager's office, which wasn't a good sign given that he'd struggled in his previous two outings with Class AAA Nashville. He figured he was heading back down to Class AA.

"Tom Flanagan (Brewers vice president of player ops and baseball administration) was there (in the office), the whole coaching staff," Erceg recalled. "I'm thinking, 'There's no way I'm going back to Double A, this sucks, but I'm just going to have to wear it and be a pro and keep that mental mindset where I still have a chance to make it.'"

It was Rick Sweet, the Nashville Sounds manager, who told him news Erceg wasn't expecting. He'd been traded to the Oakland Athletics for cash considerations. But more than that, he was going straight to the big leagues.

"(At that point) I saw Ned Yost (IV), our third base coach, kind of videotaping me secretly," Erceg said. "It took me a couple minutes to digest what had just happened."

The second-round draft pick by Milwaukee in 2016 actually hadn't been back to American Family Field since the club signed him and shipped him out to Helena, Montana, for his first pro ball assignment. And yet on Friday, he was in the stadium as a big-leaguer, just not the in the clubhouse he'd envisioned, unless you go back to his days as an A's fan growing up in the Bay Area.

The right-handed reliever brings into the series a 4.50 ERA and 1-0 record in eight appearances with Oakland.

"To this day, I can't believe it," Erceg said. "I'm waking up every day with the mindset of really just taking advantage of being grateful for just being here and making sure that if there is ever a time that I get sent down or whatever, I made this first (trip) to the best of my ability."

'You don't know when that opportunity is going to come or where it's going to come from'

Erceg debuted in Houston on May 19, five days after he pitched his last game for the Sounds.

"I felt like I was prepared," Erceg said. "It really didn't hit me until (Jose) Altuve came up to bat. It was his season debut, but man when he came up and the crowd started going crazy, I thought, 'Where the eff am I?' That's when the knees started trembling a little bit. This is what I've been dreaming about, I really have to focus on being present and relying on my execution."

The journey has had some twists. Erceg was drafted as a third baseman but transitioned to the mound in 2021. He's been open about his alcohol abuse and will be three years sober Saturday. And, despite sporting a 6.46 ERA in Nashville over 13 games this year (inflated by one particularly rough outing), he's now in the big leagues.

"He's proof, you don't know when that opportunity is going to come or where it's going to come from," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "That's how in Triple-A you have to keep yourself going sometimes, when it doesn't seem like it's the best fit or the right shot, but there are other teams out there looking at you.

"You'd see him come to spring training every year; you appreciate that. He had to swallow it and say, 'I've got to go do it again.'"

Jace Peterson is back, too, after massive game Tuesday

Jace Peterson, who spent the past three seasons with the Brewers and now starts on the infield for Oakland, said he got his own scouting report on Erceg from Sweet after the trade.

"He has a live arm, he's attacking hitters, throwing the ball over the plate … he's been really good for us," Peterson said. "If he continues on the path he's on, throw strikes and work on all his pitches, he'll be here for a long time."

Oakland came into the game Friday with a 14-50 record ... and two of those wins came in its last two games. Both Erceg and Peterson insisted it didn't mean doom and gloom in the clubhouse.

"I feel like no year goes exactly how you envisioned," Peterson said. "The fun part is to go at it, compete, see what each day brings and go out there and lay it on the line. The last few years in Milwaukee were awesome, one of my favorite times of my career. Now coming to a new team, a new organization, being in a new place, I'm having a great time so far. The season hasn't gone exactly how we wanted it to, but there's a lot of games left, a lot of games we can still go out there and win. "

Peterson had a monster game Tuesday in Pittsburgh, going 5 for 5 in an 11-2 win with two home runs. His 500th career hit was part of the night.

The A's also feature Esteury Ruiz at the top of the lineup, a player Milwaukee traded in the offseason in the three-team deal that brought catcher William Contereras and reliever Joel Payamps to the roster. Ruiz had been acquired from San Diego at the 2022 trade deadline in the infamous Josh Hader trade, and now he leads the league in stolen bases with 29.

Counsell, Kotsay have close friendship and know what it's like to endure a season like Oakland's

Counsell and Oakland manager Mark Kotsay, who played together with both the Marlins and the Brewers and have remained friends, played together on the 1998 Marlins team that won 54 games one year after winning the World Series.

"Losing's hard but playing major league baseball is a lot of fun," Counsell said. "You turn the page. You're disappointed after a loss, but you turn the page and realize the next day can bring a win. … I think that's how guys that are good at this treat it. It's how we try to treat it even if we have a loss that doesn't feel good or you have losses a little more regularly."

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