PHOENIX, Ariz. -- It isn’t often that a team rises in unison, takes the top step of the dugout and applauds a sixth-inning Spring Training pitching substitution. But Monday was a landmark day for Brewers starting pitcher Jimmy Nelson.

Eighteen months after undergoing rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder, Nelson made his first appearance in a game since September 2017, throwing an inning of Cactus League action against the White Sox while his teammates filled the dugout to support him.

“Seeing all those guys in the dugout just hanging around -- they could have gone home and enjoyed time with their families, they could have been doing their work or off enjoying the rest of their day,” Nelson said of his teammates. “But they hung out there in the dugout, and that meant a lot to me. It’s something I’ll never forget. That just kind of shows you the fabric of this team and this organization. That’s something I’ll remember for a long time, no matter what the results were.

Nelson gave up a homer to the first batter he faced, then raced to cover first albeit on an eventual infield single to first baseman Jake Hager in the second at-bat. He ultimately gave up another run on two more hits, but also struck out the side in the process. His fastball topped out at 95 mph and his breaking ball was particularly effective, as he used two curveballs and a slider as his out pitches on the three strikeouts.

“He threw the ball great, but it’s not a day to evaluate how he threw, regardless,” manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s a day for Jimmy to realize he is getting there. I’m happy for him, and happy how the whole inning went. It couldn’t have gone better.”

Nelson was ecstatic, emotional and unequivocally pleased with the way he felt on the mound.

“I felt like I was pretty easy. I wasn’t over-throwing,” Nelson said. “I kind of got a little too quick when that guy got on first, but other than that I kind of reeled it back in a little bit. It was really just the 1-0 two-seamer that stayed flat on the inner half -- anybody’s going to hit that. Then the second slider I threw, it just got too much plate and it didn’t really back up. That’s really not a big deal. The ground-ball hits were pretty good pitches. You’ll take those over the ones like the first hitter got.”

Counsell made it clear long before the game started that the victory was getting back on the field and competing.

“You don’t get many rewards in the rehab process,” Counsell said before the game. “Everybody in the clubhouse is fired up for him. That’s probably the best part. Everybody knows how hard he’s worked. Like I said, there’s no reward for that work every day. Very little fun in the work.

“Most people don’t get to see what he’s doing. His teammates see it though. They see the training room work, the weight room work. Jimmy sets a great example for everybody in those two rooms with his diligence and his consistency and his effort. So it’s a recognition of that, for sure.”

Nelson’s fastball was just a couple ticks off his normal high-90s velocity, and that would please any pitcher in his first outing of the spring. He’ll go to a five-day pitching routine, pitching three innings in a split-squad game Saturday against either the Royals or the Rockies.

“To me, this is a step,” Nelson said. “All the bullpens, all the live BPs and intrasquads were just a formality. This is the actual step -- getting to the game and getting that one under your belt. The command is there. I don’t think I got to three balls [in any count]. This is definitely, to me, an actual step.”

The 6,775 fans in attendance were as appreciative as anyone, giving a rousing applause for Nelson at both his entrance and his departure. The moment was as emotional for his teammates as it was for him, and nobody summed it up better than Jhoulys Chacín, the likely Opening Day starter.

“It gave me chills,” Chacin said of the moment Nelson came out with 50 teammates in the dugout rising to the top step. “Not many times you see that many guys in the dugout in the sixth inning. You can tell that we’re together, we are a family, we support our guys. We know Jimmy, how hard he’s been working the last year and a half to make a comeback. We’re really happy for him and he should be happy too. Get him more game action, get him feeling more comfortable with the game action, then you’ll see the old Jimmy.”