MILWAUKEE -- Brewers designated hitter Ryan Braun, who is on the 10-day injured list due to an infected right index finger, took batting practice on Friday after rejoining his teammates at Miller Park, and he could be days away from being activated.

Braun is eligible to be reinstated from the IL as early as Sunday against the Reds. Whether he is active then depends how the hitting sessions go Friday and Saturday, Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. Braun had an incision on his finger after developing an infection near the fingernail and has been waiting for the wound to heal.

He remained back in Milwaukee during the Brewers’ quick, two-game road trip to Chicago in the interest of social distancing.

Another outfielder, Avisaíl García, was day to day after being hit by a pitch on the right wrist during Thursday’s win over the White Sox. He didn’t start Friday against the Reds, but it appeared García avoided any broken bones.

“Everything's checked out. He’s just very sore,” Counsell said. “He got banged pretty good. I think we’re fortunate, to be honest with you. We’ll just give him a day and hopefully he feels better tomorrow.”

2021 Brewers On Deck event cancelled
Citing the uncertainty around hosting events this fall and winter due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Brewers on Friday said they would not stage their annual fanfest, Brewers On Deck, in 2021.

The event typically draws more than 10,000 fans to Milwaukee’s downtown convention center in late January for question-and-answer sessions, autograph and photo opportunities and other entertainment with Brewers players, coaches, alumni and broadcasters. The team said it decided against holding the event in 2021 “with thoughtful consideration and the health and safety of the community in mind.”

“It’s impossible to know at this time what restrictions may be in place that would require a different footprint or format for Brewers On Deck in January,” said Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger. “It takes many months of lead time for our staff to plan and execute the event, and with so many uncertainties, we unfortunately have to make this decision now.”

Murphy: ‘Wow, I guess this was real’
While continuing to recover from a heart attack last weekend during a team workout at Miller Park, Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy on Friday shared the harrowing experience with Fox Sports Wisconsin.

Murphy said he was hitting fungoes and trading verbal barbs with first basemen Justin Smoak when he began to experience shortness of breath “like I was in a smoggy area of California,” then developed numbness down both arms and pain in his jaw and joked to assistant athletic trainer Rafael Freitas that he might be having a heart attack.

Freitas suggested Murphy go to the training room to consult team physician Dr. Mark Niedfeldt, who summoned an ambulance to take Murphy to the hospital.

“I was like, ‘What? An ambulance? I’m not in any pain,’” Murphy said.

Once aboard, an EMT confirmed the doctor’s suspicion: It was a heart attack.

“I thought, ‘OK, I’ll button up and pay attention,’” Murphy said. “They started asking me all sorts of personal questions about next of kin and stuff like that. It was like, ‘Wow, I guess this was real.’”

Murphy had a stent implanted. The next thing he knew, he was opening his eyes in a cold room, and he said he thought to himself, ‘Well, if I’m dead, I’m not in hell. So that’s a good thing.’

“Next thing I know, this nice woman came over and put her hand on my shoulder and said, ‘You’re going to be all right.’ Next thing I knew after that, Counsell was coming in. I thought he was going to fire me or something.”

Peralta impresses
Last weekend’s postponements against the Cardinals presented some challenges for a number of Brewers pitchers who spent this week getting back into a routine. But Counsell identified one pitcher for whom the layoff may have been welcome: Freddy Peralta.

The right-hander, who has already pitched as both a starter and a reliever this season, was sharp during three scoreless innings Thursday, logging six strikeouts and a jump in average fastball velocity from 91.3 mph in a July 26 start against the Cubs to 93.2 mph against the White Sox.

“Of anybody that got a break here, Freddy was the guy that almost needed it, in a sense,” Counsell said. “That might sound strange, but I think it did him some good. … I thought we saw velocity. I think he’d just been kind of going through one of those phases where the ball’s just not coming out the way you want it, and there’s nothing wrong with you, it’s just not coming out. So essentially, he had about a 10-day break, and it looked like it did him some good.

“Just, energy. Sometimes with Freddy, to me, you just see some energy and momentum on the mound. That’s how he is when he’s really good, and [Thursday] you saw it.”

He said it
“I would have liked to have done it five years ago like a normal, healthy starting pitcher. But yeah, it just means I've been around quite a while now. You know, it's nothing to write home about, I guess. It just means I'm old and have been around quite a while now. I think [Clayton] Kershaw did it in like four years. It only took me almost 11.” -- Saturday’s scheduled starter Brett Anderson, on reaching 1,000 career innings in his Brewers debut earlier in the week