Nothing throws a team’s game plan off more than an unexpected injury to the starting pitcher. On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Brewers lost starting pitcher Dustin May to a freak injury in the first inning.
May was hit in the arm on a 106 mph line drive from New York Mets lead-off hitter A.J. Ewing on the first pitch of the game. The 28-year-old pitcher was in considerable pain and was removed from the game after attempting to throw some warm-up pitches. The Brewers later announced that May suffered a right scapula contusion, but luckily his X-rays were negative.
Milwaukee acquired May from the St. Louis Cardinals at the MLB trade deadline along with Jojo Romero in exchange for Josiah Ragsdale and Alexander Frias. In three games since joining the Brewers, May has struggled, posting a 6.00 ERA and 1.40 WHIP in 15.0 innings of work. With the Cardinals, May started 21 games and accumulated an ERA of 4.38, with a 1.28 WHIP and a 5-7 record.
May was replaced by Sunday’s scheduled starter Robert Gasser, who was available as an option out of the bullpen for Wednesday’s game. The Brewers used four relievers on Tuesday and have a stretch of 14 straight games without a day off.
If May were to miss some time, the Brewers are one team that can absorb the loss. They are currently deploying a six-man rotation, led by Jacob Misiorowski. Logan Henderson, Shane Drohan, Kyle Harrison, and Gasser fill out the rest of the rotation, but given the long stretch of games over the next couple of weeks, they could opt to call up Brandon Sproat for a spot start.
