Brewers News: Peguero Recalled, Varland To IL After Scary Comebacker

The Milwaukee Brewers officially made an expected move on Sunday prior to the series finale against the Padres, placing reliever Gus Varland on the IL after a scary comebacker drilled him in the game before.

In Varland's absence, the Brewers recalled reliever Elvis Peguero from Triple-A Nashville.

Gus Varland avoided major injury but he hits the IL with a hand contusion, putting a pause on the promising righty's rookie season.

A comebacker off the bat of Manny Machado was coming right at Varland, and he was able to get his hand up in time to deflect the ball, but it still ended up hitting his jaw. The hand took most of the blow though, giving him a bruise that places him on the IL.

It's better to be a hand contusion than a broken jaw for Varland, that much is for sure. It remains to be seen how long he'll be out, but it likely won't be much longer than the minimum 15 days, provided the bruise heals normally.

Varland has impressed so far this season as a Rule 5 selection. In six games, Varland has a 2.70 ERA with four strikeouts in 6.2 IP. He must remain on the big league roster all season in order for the Brewers to retain his rights. The injured list does come into play, but as long as he's active for at least 90 days of the season, the Brewers will be able to retain him.

Elvis Peguero gets the call to fill the gap in the bullpen. He impressed the Brewers with his stuff in spring training but still had minor league options, which helped pushed him out of the Opening Day picture. The 26 year old had a 2.45 ERA in four appearances with 10 strikeouts in 7.1 IP for the Sounds so far this season.

Peguero was one of the three pitchers the Brewers acquired from the Angels this past offseason for Hunter Renfroe. One of the others, Janson Junk, just made his Brewers debut earlier in the road trip, getting a spot start in place of the injured Brandon Woodruff.

In other Brewers injury news, Jesse Winker was scratched from the Sunday finale against the Padres with oblique tightness, something Winker described as a side effect from all the coughing he was doing as he dealt with the bronchitis that kept him out of the lineup for several days.