Brewer Daily News for May 16th: K-Rod joins team, Brewers lose again

Good morning everyone and welcome to the Thursday edition of Brewer Daily News. Today, the Milwaukee Brewers are planning to bring up reliever Francisco Rodriguez to the 25-man roster. In the second bit of news, the Brewers (16-22) lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates (23-17) last night.

Francisco Rodriguez’s return to the Brew Crew came as a surprise to most fans. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

With Rodriguez on the 25-man roster, the Brewers will option first baseman Blake Lalli to Triple-A Nashville. Rodriguez was given the option to opt out of his contract with the team if he didn’t make the roster yesterday.

"“Velocity-wise he’s back up to, I don’t know if he’s quite where he was last year, but he’s 90-91,” manager Ron Roenicke said. “The changeup has been good.” – via Brewers.com"

It’s unclear exactly how Rodriguez will be used in the bullpen, but with John Axford still struggling, it’s possible K-Rod will be an 8th inning pitcher. Last season as a middle reliever and partial set-up man, Rodriguez had 32 holds and an ERA of 4.38. The Brewers may use a bit of caution this time around with K-Rod.

Last night the Brewers lost 3-1 to the Pirates. Yovani Gallardo started and pitched well enough to win, but did not get any run support, thus giving him his third loss of the season. Gallardo pitched six innings, gave up two runs, three hits, four walks and struck out five. Burke Badenhop gave up one unearned run in 1 2/3 innings of relief.

Wandy Rodriguez pitched seven innings of one-run ball for the Bucs and picked up his fourth win of the season. Pirates’ closer Jason Grilli acquired his 16th save of 2013 by pitching a perfect 9th inning.

The Brewers’ only run came in the 7th inning when Rickie Weeks hit a solo homer. Norichika Aoki went 2-for-4 at the plate while Ryan Braun, Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Gomez all had one hit a piece. The team left five runners on base.

Tonight the Brewers play in the fourth and final game of this series with the Pirates at 7:05 p.m. ET / 6:05 p.m. CT.  The starters will be Hiram Burgos for Milwaukee and Francisco Liriano for Pittsburgh.