Nick Mears to Injured List; Brewers Relievers Suffer Setbacks
Right-handed pitcher Nick Mears has become the latest Milwaukee Brewers reliever to go on the injured list.
The Brewers announced before their Friday night game against the Pittsburgh Pirates that Mears was suffering from back stiffness and would be placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Tuesday. The team called up right-handed pitcher Carlos Rodriguez from Triple-A Nashville.
Mears, 28, joins All-Star closer Trevor Megill (right flexor strain), lefty DL Hall (right oblique), and righties Grant Anderson (right ankle) and Shelby Miller (right elbow) on the Brewers’ injured list.
Miller was placed on the 60-day injured list on Wednesday due to a sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament and mentioned the possibility of undergoing a second Tommy John surgery.
The Brewers hope Megill can return in mid-September. Anderson is expected to pitch an inning in a rehab assignment on Saturday. Hall could return in late September.
Milwaukee began Friday’s game with the best record in Major League Baseball and leading the National League Central Division by 5.5 games over the Chicago Cubs.
Mears is 5-3 with a 3.42 ERA in 59 appearances, with 43 strikeouts in 52 2/3 innings.
Rodríguez, 23 years old, has a 1-0 record with an ERA of 9.95 in two games with Milwaukee. In 15 games with Nashville, he has a 3-4 record with an ERA of 3.86 and a save.
