Brewers News: Injuries Starting to Pile Up Again for the Crew

Navigating injuries over the course of a 162-game season is par for the course every year for MLB teams. The Brewers certainly are aware of that, but probably currently wish those injuries could be a little more spread out.

Milwaukee announced a couple new injured list members on Saturday, one being expected by most with the other being somewhat more of a surprise. Word also broke that a current member of the team’s injured list has stopped progressing toward his return.

As expected, LHP Brett Anderson hits the injured list after being pulled early from his last start for the Brewers.

After being pulled from his start on Friday after just 11 pitches, the first sign of eventual doom via a 15-2 drubbing by the Cubs, starter Brett Anderson was sent that night for an MRI. It confirmed a hamstring injury that was bad enough to land the lefty on the IL.

Anderson heads to the IL with a 2-2 record and a 4.15 ERA and 1.269 WHIP through 17 1/3 innings pitched. Prior to this, Anderson had stayed relatively healthy for the Brewers outside of a blister issue that popped up a couple times last season and caused some small delays, including an IL stint to begin 2020.

In his place, the Brewers called up reliever Phil Bickford. The right-hander made his major league debut in 2020, giving up four earned in an inning of work in a 12-1 loss to the Tigers. It was the only appearance he made last season.

One of Anderson’s possible rotation replacements, RHP Josh Lindblom, will be joining him on the Brewers’ IL.

When Anderson was removed from the game on Friday, 2020 Brewers starter Josh Lindblom was called upon to replace him. Entering the game cold, things started off rough for him and quickly snowballed into a quick, sizeable lead for Chicago.

Lindblom would end up giving up eight earned runs himself while allowing two inherited runners to score in 3 2/3 innings pitched, though just one of those runs would score over his final two innings of work. There was no talk after the game of any potential injury, yet on Saturday the team announced he’d be heading to IL with Anderson.

The Brewers opted to go with an offensive replacement for this transaction, calling up 2016 5th overall pick, outfielder Corey Ray. He would end up making his MLB debut on Saturday, walking and scoring the tying run in a decisive 5th inning for the Crew.

The pair join OF Christian Yelich, who hasn’t been progressing as quickly as the Brewers would like.

With Brewers fans getting to see the return of second baseman Kolten Wong during this weekend’s Cubs series, the hope was that outfielder Christian Yelich would be close behind him. But after optimism lately that this might be a possiblity, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reported on Saturday that the scenario may no longer be the case.

Yelich is one of many Brewers looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2020 and was on the verge of doing so before his injury. Through nine games, Yeli was batting .333 with a .826 OPS, though he was still looking for his first homer of the season.

Milwaukee has gotten by okay without him up until now, having gone 7-4 in his absence and taking over first place in the division. Still, the Brewers, as well as their fans, would love to see their former MVP back in the lineup sooner rather than later.

The Brewers have navigated a surprisingly high amount of injuries well so far in 2021. Hopefully they won’t have to do it for too much longer.