MILWAUKEE – Brewers left fielder Brandon Lockridge ambled around the clubhouse on crutches on Saturday afternoon, his right knee visibly swollen and stabilized by a brace. Despite the pain and some difficulty getting around, he was feeling lucky.
“To be honest, I thought my knee was going to be in 100 pieces,” Lockridge said.
Lockridge was carted off the field during Friday night’s 6-0 win over the Yankees after his right knee crashed into concrete at the base of the wall at American Family Field while he chased a fly ball in the fourth inning.
Initial X-rays were negative, but Lockridge suffered a deep laceration down to the bone that required nine stitches, and he was placed on the 10-day injured list on Saturday. The Brewers called up Blake Perkins to take that spot on the active roster.
Lockridge will have to wait for swelling to subside before he can undergo an MRI exam and other testing, which is scheduled for Monday. Lockridge expects to have his stitches removed in seven to 10 days, and he hopes to return soon after that, but manager Pat Murphy said he was bracing to be without the scrappy outfielder for at least a month.
Either way, it could have been much worse.
“It was just above the patella tendon and just beneath the kneecap,” Lockridge said. “Honestly, this was about as good of a spot [as could be]. It just tore through a lot of tissue. Higher or lower, and it would have been much worse. I’m very thankful for that.”
Lockridge was attempting to make a sliding catch of Cody Bellinger’s foul ball when his knee connected with the wall. Lockridge received immediate attention from head athletic trainer Brad Epstein and was helped to his feet, but he appeared unable to put any weight on his right leg.
It was an abrupt end to what had already been a productive night for the 29-year-old outfielder. Lockridge’s second-inning single produced the first of four Brewers runs in the frame.
“My first thought is hoping the best for the dude,” starter Jacob Misiorowski said. “It’s always scary to see a teammate go down like that.”
“It was hard seeing a guy like that down in pain,” said Brewers right fielder Sal Frelick. “That’s the kind of player he is. That’s the kind of teammate he is. Just playing with his butt on fire. He didn’t even take the wall into account there; he was just trying to get an out.”
Frelick and the Brewers will hope for the best for Lockridge.
“All the credit in the world to him for going after that ball,” Frelick said. “You understand the wall is there; it’s not like you’re ignoring it. But if you have a chance to make a play, it negates the thought of hitting the wall.
“That’s what happened there. He knew he had a shot at it. That’s the culture here. That’s what’s expected. We want the pitchers to be fully confident in throwing strikes because we’re going to go after balls like that. We just hope he’s OK.”