MILWAUKEE -- While the pesky Brewers used small ball to score big in Tuesday’s 13-2 win over the D-backs at American Family Field, two of their power threats were taking significant steps toward returning to the lineup.
Left fielder Jackson Chourio and first baseman Andrew Vaughn, each sidelined by fractured bones in the left hand, were en route to Triple-A Nashville and are scheduled to begin rehab assignments for the Sounds on Wednesday night. If all goes to plan, Chourio and Vaughn will each 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.
“I think it’s something we need,” said catcher William Contreras. “I think we’ve been able to do a good job without them, but their return to the lineup will bring some power. It will be up to them to come back and get in a rhythm again, but no doubt, it will be good to have those guys back.”
“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. Their seven-game streak without hitting a home run, which ended when Sal Frelick went deep leading off the second inning, was their longest since 1999.
“I ordered that,” Murphy joked. “I asked Sal, ‘Would you do me a favor and hit a homer and get these guys off my back?’”
Most of Tuesday’s damage, however, came in the same manner the Brewers romped the Tigers, 12-4, eight days earlier in Detroit -- not with big blows but with small cuts. Joey Ortiz and Tyler Black each hit two-run singles to give the Brewers a 5-2 lead before they broke the game open with eight runs off D-backs reliever Andrew Hoffman, who was left shaking his head.
Of the 10 Brewers who found their way on base in the inning, there was one walk, one catcher’s interference, seven singles (two of which were bunts) and one extra-base hit that was more well-placed than well-hit. David Hamilton’s two-run, ground-rule double left his bat at 81.7 mph.
“That’s fun to watch,” said Brewers starter Chad Patrick, who overcame a frightening moment with his eyesight on the way to working five innings. “We just have to keep pressing on and force those things to happen.”
Asked whether getting Chourio and Vaughn back could help solve the power 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.