Young pitching depth continues to come through for Crew

MINNEAPOLIS – When Robert Gasser is called up Sunday for his season debut, he will become the 11th pitcher to start for the Brewers in their first 44 games. Only the Astros (12) have used more.

For this franchise, it takes a village to fill a starting rotation.

“It would be a different situation if we had guys coming up here and they were getting shelled, but that’s not what’s happening at all,” said Brewers assistant GM Matt Kleine before Logan Henderson pitched five capable innings and Jackson Chourio hit a go-ahead home run in Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Twins at Target Field. “We feel really good about the depth we have. And we’re not afraid to use it.”

With Brandon Woodruff on the injured list with shoulder inflammation and Quinn Priester still searching for feel in his comeback from thoracic outlet syndrome, the Brewers’ young pitching depth has become the story of the season. Every pitcher who has started for Milwaukee this month has less than two years of Major League service time. None has made more than Kyle Harrison’s 45 big league starts. The next most experienced, Jacob Misiorowski, was still in the Minors at this time last year.

And the Brewers continue to make it work. In this series against the Twins, their starters are Coleman Crow (second Major League start), Henderson (ninth Major League start) and Gasser (who has already joined the team and will make his eighth Major League start).

“I think it’s just a way of doing things,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “The organization has come to know that this is the way we need to do it.”

It has been doing it well. In the 13 May games since Woodruff landed on the injured list, Brewers starters have a 2.15 ERA. Only the Rays’ starters have pitched better this month.

Crow and Henderson have kept things rolling in this series against the Twins. Henderson faced traffic in most of his five innings on Saturday, but he held Minnesota to a lone run on Trevor Larnach’s third-inning home run, limiting the damage from six hits by walking only one and logging five of his seven strikeouts while the Twins had runners in scoring position.

That performance followed Crow, who was called up Friday to make a spot start for the second time this season and delivered, holding the Twins hitless until the fifth inning while keeping the bullpen in order by working into the sixth.