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Brewers send catcher Lucroy to DL as losses continue to pile up
MILWAUKEE -- Just when it seems hard for things to get worse for the Milwaukee Brewers, another significant blow comes to send them spiraling toward rock bottom.
After another feeble performance Monday in a 6-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Miller Park, it was revealed that catcher Jonathan Lucroy is headed to the disabled list with a fractured left big toe.
Lucroy took a foul tip from Zack Cozart off his left foot in the sixth inning. Two pitches later, Cozart connected on a three-run home run to give Cincinnati a 4-0 lead.
"I've been hit a million times in my feet," Lucroy said. "I was just talking to (Martin Maldonado) about it and he said the same thing. That's the first time I've seen a catcher break their toe, and it had to be me. Maldy said the same thing. It's about par for the course right now."
Milwaukee is now 2-11 with arguably its two most valuable players on the disabled list with injuries.
Carlos Gomez is out at least until early May with a strained hamstring, while no timetable has been placed on a potential return for Lucroy. Earlier Monday, it became known that second baseman Scooter Gennett suffered a cut requiring five stitches while showering after Sunday's game in Pittsburgh.
"They're not going to throw (their hands) up," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "It's too early to do that. It's such a long season. We all know how bad of start this is and we have a long way to go to recover from it but it can happen. We can turn it around. We can have one great week and be pretty good.
"Over the course of the season, you just keep chipping away and we can get back in it but it's hard when you're not playing well and then you lose Scooter for a few days and then you lose Luc. You lost Gomey. That gets hard when you know the pieces you're counting on you're not having all of them."
The lone offensive highlight for the Brewers on Monday was a solo home run by Ryan Braun in the top of the ninth inning. And all that did was prevent a shutout.
Reds rookie right-hander Anthony DeSclafani allowed just two hits over eight innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter having thrown just 91 pitches. Milwaukee had a chance to break a scoreless tie with two on and one out in the fifth, but pitcher Wily Peralta popped up a bunt for a double play.
Cincinnati loaded the bases the next half inning and took a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly from Brayan Pena. It appeared as if Peralta was going to limit the damage to just one run before Cozart launched a three-run home run on a 1-2 pitch.
"One mistake was the ballgame," Peralta said. "I felt pretty good today except for that pitch to Cozart. Things are not going our way right now. We need to stop this and start doing a better job, especially the starting pitchers. If we throw zeroes, this thing is going to turn around at some point."
It isn't hard to see why the Brewers are 2-11. Milwaukee is last in baseball in ERA from starting pitchers (5.96) and runs scored (31). The Brewers have scored two or fewer runs in nine of their 13 games and have scored just 20 total runs in their 11 losses.
Braun's ninth-inning homer snapped a six-game homerless drought, Milwaukee's longest such streak since 2002. Adam Lind's double in the fourth Monday was the team's first extra-base hit in 22 innings.
"Everything that has occurred offensively collectively is hard to fathom," Braun said. "I don't think any of us would have believed that it was possible through 13 games to perform as poorly as we have as a group all the way around. We're not swinging the bats well. We're not running the bases very well. Unfortunately we can't steal first base. It is just not going well. Overall it is not going well.
"It has been a combination of bad luck and terrible at-bats."
Having tried many different things to snap out of their prolonged offensive funk, the Brewers will skip batting practice Tuesday in a "show and go" day.
"The goal is the next day always," Braun said. "We show up optimistic and positive. We've had plenty of meetings. We've done everything we can try to do at this point to get things better. We're doing a show and go tomorrow. Maybe that helps. We've yet to do that."
Centeno recalled: With Lucroy headed for the disabled list, the Brewers will recall catcher Juan Centeno from Triple-A Colorado Springs.
Claimed off waivers from the New York Mets in October, Centeno hit .333 with a home run and three RBI in 16 games for the Brewers this spring. The 25-year-old is off to a slow start with the Sky Sox, hitting .192 in 26 at-bats.
Centeno has a .225 batting average in 14 big-league games with the Mets over the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
For Lucroy, it is a difficult blow in what has been a frustrating season for the All-Star. An 0-for-3 night Monday dropped him to .156 on the young season. Now he will miss significant time due to a freak injury.
"I just feel terrible for him," Braun said. "He cares so much and he's grinding so hard to try to get himself back to where he knows he will be. It is obviously a difficult thing for us whenever you lose a player of his caliber. He has such an impact on the game both offensively and defensively.
"Certainly it makes an already difficult and disappointing start that much more challenging. At some point we have to be near rock bottom. Hopefully we get started heading in the right direction."
Lucroy knew something was wrong immediately after he was hit. He stayed in to fly out to center in the bottom of the sixth but was then replaced defensively by Maldonado.
"It was a pretty special one," Lucroy said. "I've been hit a million times in my neck, arms, hands, fingers, feet -- everywhere. I could feel a difference in this one. The pain was a lot sharper.
"Especially when I went up to hit, I knew something was going on because I could feel it swelling up in my shoe. Then I went to go hit and when I torqued on my front foot it lit me up pretty good."
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