Brewers' Dustin May exits start against Mets with injury after one pitch

Key trade deadline acquisition Dustin May kicked off his fourth start with the Milwaukee Brewers just moments ago. However, after just one pitch, May's start has come to an end. On the first pitch of the game, New York Mets' leadoff hitter A.J. Ewing smoked a line drive back up the middle, which caught May in the back and forced the Brewers' starter to exit the game.

Thankfully, Ewing's line drive narrowly missed May's right arm. May even threw several warm-up pitches in front of manager Pat Murphy and head athletic trainer Brad Epstein, which briefly had Brewers fans encouraged that he would be able to stay in the game. However, the Brewers ultimately elected for the cautious approach: removing May from the game and having left-hander Robert Gasser replace him on the mound.

Brewers' starter Dustin May exits start after being hit in the back by comebacker in first at-bat of Wednesday night's game against Mets

Gasser last pitched on August 20, meaning he's working on five days' rest, but it's nevertheless difficult for a starting pitcher to all of a sudden be thrust into a bulk role after not expecting to pitch on a given night. Gasser was scheduled to start on Sunday afternoon in the Brewers' series finale against the Texas Rangers, but that will almost certainly be altered now.

Meanwhile, the Brewers anxiously await word on the severity of May's injury. If the injury proves not to be too severe, which appeared to be the case, May could even "replace" his scheduled start against the Mets on Wednesday night with another appearance later in the week or over the weekend. After all, May threw just one pitch on Wednesday night.

Losing May for an extended period of time would undoubtedly be a tough blow for the Brewers, who declared earlier today, by way of revealing their starting pitcher probables, that they were planning on continuing to use a six-man rotation for the foreseeable future. With a stretch of 16 games in 16 days beginning last night, the Brewers could certainly use their key trade deadline rotation addition. Stay tuned for more on the severity of May's injury.

UPDATE (8/26, 7:32 p.m. CT): According to MLB.com Brewers' beat reporter Adam McCalvy, May exited with a right scapula contusion. May has already undergone imaging, and the X-rays thankfully came back negative.

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