Chourio, Vaughn set to begin rehab assignments in Triple-A

MILWAUKEE – For Jackson Chourio and Andrew Vaughn, it’s time to go play.

The Brewers’ left fielder and first baseman, each sidelined by fractured bones in the left hand, have been cleared to begin rehab assignments with Triple-A Nashville. They were scheduled to travel there Tuesday night to play the first five innings of Wednesday night’s game against Norfolk at 6:35 p.m. CT.

Chourio was placed on the injured list on Opening Day with a fractured bone at the base of his left middle finger, which he originally suffered on a hit-by-pitch during a tune-up for the World Baseball Classic. Vaughn fractured the hamate bone in his left hand that afternoon against the White Sox and underwent surgery on March 30.

The Brewers are estimating a May 4 return for both Chourio and Vaughn. They begin a series in St. Louis that night.

“It feels like it’s finally here, you know?” said manager Pat Murphy, whose club has struggled lately to produce power with three of the first five players in the projected lineup on the IL.

The Brewers have also been without designated hitter Christian Yelich, who landed on the injured list on April 14 with a left groin strain. He was still in the process of ramping up a hitting and running progression as of Tuesday, and the club is estimating a late May return to the lineup.

The absence of Chourio, Yelich and Vaughn has surely contributed to recent results for the Brewers, who went into Tuesday night with 11 losses in the past 16 games and one home run in their past 11. The Brewers’ current seven-game streak without hitting a home run is their longest since 1999.

Asked whether getting Chourio and Vaughn back could help solve that problem, Murphy said, “Well, it certainly doesn’t hurt.”

But Milwaukee’s recent issues have been about more than home runs, Murphy conceded. The Brewers went into their series against the D-backs ranked 22nd in weighted runs created plus (93), which is a good overall measure of offensive production. They were 10th in on-base percentage (.329) but 29th in slugging percentage (.349).

And perhaps most notably, they had baseball’s highest ground-ball rate at 50.5 percent. Since MLB’s official statistician started tracking that stat in 1987, only five teams have produced a higher percentage of ground balls, with the 2015 Marlins (52.9 percent) at the top. The Marlins finished 71-91 that year.

“Power is a thing that’s an outgrowth of a lot of other things,” Murphy said. “First of all, you have to get the pitch to do it with, and we’ve faced some pitching that hasn’t given us a lot of those pitches. Plus, we’ve got a lot of inexperience.

“I appreciate how they’re playing, because they’re competitive in almost every game. Very few times have we not been in the game at the end of the game.”

The Brewers have tried to generate offense by moving players around the lineup, often with mid-game substitutions as much in mind. Through their first 28 games -- including Tuesday’s series opener against the D-backs -- Milwaukee has used 28 different batting orders.

“We’re trying to do all we can to piece it together until these three big bats get back,” Murphy said.