MILWAUKEE – Worried about a multitude of ailments for one of their most productive second-half players, the Brewers sent third baseman Joey Ortiz for an MRI scan on Saturday to determine the severity of a right knee injury.
Ortiz banged his knee trying to make a play in foul ground in Philadelphia on Thursday, the night the Brewers won their 100th game. He was supposed to have Friday off, but was called into duty against the Cardinals when the club had to scratch rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt with an illness. Ortiz made it until the eighth inning before he had to depart following a play he wasn’t involved in; television cameras showed him severely limping in the dugout.
It’s not just the knee that the Brewers are worried about, manager Pat Murphy said. Ortiz has also dealt with oblique soreness for several weeks, and on Thursday he also reported groin discomfort.
The Brewers summoned infielder Jonathan Ornelas from the club’s “stay ready” camp in Nashville, Tenn., to be on hand in the event of bad news, but didn’t activate him for Saturday’s game against the Cardinals. Placing Ortiz on the 10-day injured list now would leave him unavailable for the start of the NLDS on Oct. 3.
Ortiz has been one of baseball’s great comeback stories this year. After a multi-year slump that extended into this season (Ortiz was hitting .207 with a .561 OPS when the Brewers promoted Pratt on June 16 and installed him at shortstop), Ortiz started going on a tear in July. He’s slashing .333/.378/.531 with a .909 OPS in his last 61 games beginning July 4.