Brewers: Corbin Burnes Leaves Monday's Start With Apparent Upper Body Injury

High atop the wish list of Milwaukee Brewers fans for the 2023 season was a reduction in injuries from 2022. Recent trends are making it seem like that might be a wish that goes unfulfilled.

Pitchers Adrian Houser and Aaron Ashby haven't pitched a game yet this season, the latter of which is in danger of not pitching at all in 2023, while third baseman Luis Urias went down in the very first game of the season.

And just recently, starter Brandon Woodruff went to the IL with an injury that now seems like it is going to keep him out longer than expected while reliever Gus Varland also hit the IL in a scary incident that could've been much worse. That's already plenty to deal with not even a month into the season.

And as if that weren't all bad enough, the Brewers' best player has now had his own injury scare.

Corbin Burnes left his start on Monday with an apparent upper body injury.

The incident occured in the bottom of the sixth inning of the Brewers' matchup against the Seattle Mariners. Prior to that, Corbin Burnes was cruising for his second straight start after pitching a gem against the Diamondbacks the previous week.

Burnes had given up just one run on three hits and a walk over the first five innings, his only major blemish being a solo homer off the bat of Cal Raleigh. But in the sixth after issuing a walk to J.P. Crawford and inducing a fly out from Julio Rodriguez, Burnes motioned to the dugout for the athletic trainers.

The 28-year-old appeared to be grabbing at part of his chest when speaking to the team's trainer and manager Craig Counsell. After a brief discussion, Milwaukee's skipper pulled Burnes out of the game after 5.1 innings and 85 pitches.

Reliever Peter Strzelecki got to be the pitcher to come in cold and did well to limit the damage to one run off of the runner he inherited from Burnes. The Brewers ultimately went on to win the game 7-3.

The Brewers already went through a number of injuries to their starters last season, the most notable of which being Freddy Peralta's absence. But for a team that prides itself on strong starting pitching, losing one of the best 1-2 punches in the entire league would be an awfully huge obstacle to overcome.

No specifics have been released yet as to the nature of Burnes' injury. Here's hoping this one actually turns out to be minor.

UPDATE: The initial report is that Burnes' injury is a left pec strain and it is thought to be minor.