MILWAUKEE – The Brewers placed outfielder Sal Frelick on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a right shoulder strain and scratched second baseman Brice Turang from the starting lineup against the Marlins with a sore right foot. All on the same day that franchise mainstay Brandon Woodruff announced he needs another season-ending shoulder surgery.
Yet no matter how much bad news the Brewers absorbed in the morning, the afternoon produced another win.
Red-hot center fielder Garrett Mitchell tallied three more hits in Milwaukee’s 8-6 win over Miami at American Family Field, including his two-out, two-run double in a go-ahead, four-run sixth as the Brewers rallied in the late innings for their 61st victory this season, one shy of the Dodgers’ Major League lead.
Mitchell’s big hit – his 23rd of July, most in the Majors this month – came three batters after Jackson Chourio’s two-run single with the bases loaded gave the Brewers the lead and positioned rookie left-hander Shane Drohan to earn the victory after he set a career high with nine strikeouts in six quality innings. When Christian Yelich lined a two-run double in Miami’s mistake-filled seventh, the Brewers had the runs they needed to turn a tough morning into a good day.
“It speaks to just how tight this clubhouse is,” said Drohan, who has delivered at least six innings in each of his last three starts to help buoy a rotation without Woodruff. “Everybody in here wants to show up for the rest of us. That’s just what it is: Guys want to do well for each other.”
It was one of those wins in which everyone chipped in, even recently-acquired infielder Braden Shewmake, who roped a leadoff double to spark the Brewers’ winning rally after being a late addition to the lineup and accounted for one of the Brewers’ seven stolen bases, matching a season high for the team on a day six different players swiped a base.
“I’m glad to be on this side of it,” Shewmake said, “because when I was in Houston, we were worried because you run wild over here.”
Shewmake replaced Turang, whose injury is for now considered minor, the result of a foul ball off Turang's foot in Friday’s 10-inning, 2-1 win that flared up overnight.
Frelick’s injury is more concerning, and will require a contrast MRI in the coming days before the Brewers have a feel for how much time the scrappy right fielder might miss.
“He represents a lot of what our team is,” manager Pat Murphy said. “No nonsense. Let’s just compete. You can’t lose those things on your team. Somebody else has to pick it up.”
Outfielder Blake Perkins was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Saturday, when rookie Luis Lara started in right field against the Marlins. Lara is likely to get the bulk of playing time in place of Frelick, who said he’d been dealing with shoulder pain for the last two months.
He hoped the All-Star break would help calm things down, but he felt discomfort on a throw from right field in the top of the fourth and didn’t come out to the on-deck circle when his turn came up in the bottom of that inning. Lara wound up taking Frelick’s place at the start of the fifth.
Frelick’s production is down this season, but he put together a solid June (.880 OPS) before going 4-for-31 on the Brewers’ long road trip leading to the All-Star break. The shoulder began to bother him at the plate during that time, Frelick said.
“I felt like I couldn’t throw,” Frelick said. “Like a liability out there. That’s why I spoke up. I tried throwing as hard as I could to second and it kind of just dribbled out of my hand. I felt I needed to speak up and not push through it anymore.”
That isn’t easy for a former hockey player who prides himself on toughness.
“Hardest thing for me to do,” Frelick said. “I don’t want to sit here and say I can play through anything or I’m tough or whatnot, but what I hated specifically about [Friday] night and what made me finally speak up is feeling like I would maybe affect the team. That’s the last thing I want. I think you should play through anything you can bear, but [when it] costs the team is when you need to speak up.”
He’s confident that Lara will seize the opportunity. Lara, 21, is the Brewers’ No. 4-ranked prospect and No. 64 overall, per MLB Pipeline.
“Just an absolute stud,” Frelick said. “We’ve known what we’ve got in him from big league camp this year, and seeing him progress through the Minors. He’s a really good kid, too. He works hard. Ultimate trust in anyone who’s out there.”
That’s the mentality: Next man up.
“It’s been the same thing since I’ve been here,” said closer Trevor Megill after quashing a Marlins comeback in the ninth. “Somebody goes down, somebody picks that person up.”