Chase Anderson File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
The Milwaukee Brewers found out less than hour before Wednesday night’s game against Colorado that starting pitcher Chase Anderson ripped open a callus on his right middle finger, sending him to the injured list. That put the team in scramble mode as they needed to formulate a pitching plan for the night, minus Anderson.
Manager Craig Counsell handed the ball to reliever Jacob Barnes to start with and things went downhill from there. Barnes walked the first two batters and Nolan Arenado followed with a three-run homer to center field, on the way to a 11-4 Colorado victory.
Arenado tacked on a solo homer in the ninth for his eighth home run of the season. Trevor Story also clubbed a three-run homer for the Rockies.
Mike Moustakas hit a two-run homer for Milwaukee, and Ben Gamel added two hits and two RBI.
Donnie Hart gave the Brewers a lift with three scoreless innings in relief of Barnes. The Brewers actually took the lead on Gamel’s two-run single in the fifth, but the Rockies took the lead for good in the sixth.
Ryan McMahon scored on a Corbin Burnes (0-3) wild pitch and Tony Wolters pinch hit single made it 5-4 Colorado.
Burnes was supposed to be activated in time for Thursday’s series finale and just happen to be at the park on Wednesday night. When Anderson couldn’t pitch, the Brewers quickly placed Anderson on the injured list and activated Burnes.
Burnes was sent to Triple-A San Antonio last month after allowing 11 homers in his first four starts. Burnes surrendered three runs on Wednesday night and took the loss, but none of the runs came via the home run.
The Brewers insisted when they sent Burnes to the minors, that they wanted him to return as a starter, but the team added Gio Gonzalez to the rotation since then and Burnes will work out of the teams bullpen for now.
The Brewers are expected to make more roster moves on Thursday. They’ll need to make one for sure, having to activate Freddy Peralta. Peralta is the scheduled starter in Thursday’s series Finale and Colorado’s Jon Gray.
Christian Yelich missed a third straight game with a sore lower back and will likely skip today’s series finale with the Rockies. But the Brewers are optimistic that he’ll be able to make it back for the weekend series with the New York Mets.