Athletics righty Joe Boyle back in the driver's seat against Brewers this afternoon

The Oakland Athletics are set to take on the Milwaukee Brewers in the first half of a split squad matchup this afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 pm PST.

A's prospect Joe Boyle is back on the mound after a rough outing last time out. After posting just 3 walks in his first 3 spring starts, Boyle walked 5 batters in 3 innings on Monday against the Diamondbacks.

He's struggled with control problems his entire professional career but Athletics fans were able to get a glimpse of his potential between last year's cup of coffee in Oakland and the first couple starts this spring.

Boyle will look to get back on track against an interesting Milwaukee lineup today. The Brewers are coming off an NL Central division title but lost their top 2 pitchers from 2023. Brandon Woodruff is out for the entire season thanks to shoulder surgery and they just traded their ace Corbin Burnes to Baltimore.

They made a couple minor additions on offense, including first baseman Rhys Hoskins, to a lineup that was in the bottom half in terms of runs scored last year. Whether that'll be enough to hold onto the NL Central in 2024 remains to be seen.

Since the Cubs resigned Cody Bellinger, the Brewers are no longer the betting favorites to win their division. so they have their work cut out for them.

A number of expected opening day starters have stuck around Hohokam Stadium to face off against the Brewers during today's split squad matchup.

First baseman Ryan Noda is set to bat leadoff, followed by Miguel Andujar who will be at DH today. Andujar has missed the last two games due to calf soreness so it'll be nice to get him back into the lineup.

Tyler Soderstrom gets the start behind the plate. He's hitless in his last five games and still has just one extra base hit this spring, that being a double all the way back on March 1st.

The Brewers counter with Jake Junis who has a 6.00 ERA in his two spring starts. The A's will look to get the bats rolling early against the Brewers' righty.