Milwaukee Brewers: Jonathan Lucroy to miss 4-6 weeks, Gennett to DL
By Phil Watson
The Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday learned that All-Star catcher Jonathan Lucroy is likely to miss four to six weeks with the broken left big toe he sustained in Monday night’s loss to the Cincinnati Reds.
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Lucroy was hit in the toe by a foul ball off the bat of Reds shortstop Zack Cozart in the sixth inning Monday and did not return to the game for the top of the seventh.
Martin Maldonado will assume the bulk of the catching duties, with Juan Centeno recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs to serve as the backup.
“It’s fractured right in half,” Lucroy told the Bill Michaels Sports Network on Tuesday, per MLB.com. “You just kind of have to leave it alone and let it heal on its own.
“We’re going to let it get fully healed, though. The doctor said I would be feeling pretty good after a while; I won’t be on crutches too long. But we have to let it fully fill in and heal because of all the squatting I do and when you hit obviously you torque against it and when you run you ‘explode’ off your feet.”
Maldonado has performed well filling in for an injured Lucroy in the past. In 2012, when Lucroy was out with a broken hand, Maldonado hit .275/.319/.399 with five homers and 19 RBI in the nearly two months Lucroy was on the disabled list.
He had his best offensive season that year, hitting .266/.321/.408 with eight home runs and 30 RBI in 78 games.
Defensively, Maldonado is a known commodity.
Apr 13, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Scooter Gennett (2) reacts after a called strike in the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
“Defensively, Maldy’s great,” manager Ron Roenicke said. “[But] it’s been the offense that we need to get going, and Luc is such a great offensive player. That’s why this hurts so much.”
Lucroy was off to a slow start at the plate, hitting .156/.235/.200 in 51 plate appearances with no home runs and two RBI.
The Brewers on Tuesday also placed second baseman Scooter Gennett on the 15-day disabled list with a laceration on the top of his left hand that he sustained while reaching for a bottle of body wash in the showers at Pittsburgh on Sunday.
According to MLB.com, the Brewers purchased the contract of utility man Elian Herrera from Colorado Springs and designated right-hander Brandon Kintzler for assignment to create a spot on the 40-man roster.
Gennett is the third Opening Day starter to land on the DL in less than a week. Center fielder Carlos Gomez injured his right hamstring on April 15 against the St. Louis Cardinals before Lucroy went down on Monday.
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“When you start looking, really, at five days or more, you’re really taking a lot from the team to have to play that many days short,” Roenicke said of the decision to put Gennett on the DL. “Seven is what they kind of said so we just thought—especially how things are going—we need everybody we can have here.”
Gennett has also gotten off to a rough start this season—like most of the Milwaukee hitters. In 33 plate appearances, Gennett was hitting .207/.303/.207 with one RBI and 12 strikeouts.
Herrera, who hit .274/.288/.341 with five RBI and four stolen bases in 69 games for the Brewers in 2014, was off to a torrid start for the Sky Sox.
In 11 games and 52 plate appearances, Herrera was hitting .422/.500/.644 with two home runs and nine RBI. His gaudy 1.144 OPS had him just outside of the top 10 in that category in the Pacific Coast League and he was tied for seventh in the PCL with 11 runs scored.
Kintzler, a key setup man in 2013 for Milwaukee, was 3-3 with a 3.24 ERA and 1.337 WHIP in 64 appearances and 58.1 innings in 2014, striking out 31 batters. He’s appeared in just one game at Colorado Springs, surrendering two runs on two hits while retiring just one batter.