ST. PETERSBURG -- Travis Shaw was hopeful he'd miss only one game after getting drilled on the neck while stealing second base Saturday night, but he wound up missing much less time than that.
Shaw was called into duty in the bottom of the first inning of the Brewers' 2-1 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field on Sunday, after Domingo Santana was struck by a Chris Archer pitch. The Brewers' right fielder exited with a bruised right wrist.
"He just had a little numbness in his hand from being hit, which is to be expected, but the X-rays were clean," manager Craig Counsell said. "I think we're all right there."
That numbness is what concerned Santana.
"That's when I really started to get scared, but I'm OK," Santana said. "Hopefully 'Couns' puts me in there [on Monday]."
Hernan Perez moved from third base to right field to take Santana's place, and Shaw entered the game at third, hitting second.
It was a painful series for two of the Brewers' top run producers. Shaw, who had to exit Saturday's game in the second inning after being struck by a throw from Rays catcher Jesus Sucre, entered Sunday as Milwaukee's leader with 74 RBIs. Santana entered the game with a .302 average since the start of July that leads the team, and his .895 OPS since then trails only Shaw's .941.
Shaw felt better as Sunday morning progressed, and he even took a couple of swings in the batting cage before the game.
"It's better than I thought," Shaw said prior to Sunday's game. "It's sore, but that's obvious. I was thinking it was going to be [sore]."