On the road to recovery
Guerra is making good progress
Nearing the one-month mark of straining his right calf and landing on the disabled list, Junior Guerra continues to make steady progress toward his return.
The right-hander threw a 30-pitch bullpen session Wednesday and is scheduled for a 45-pitch session Saturday, with live batting practice on the agenda next week when the Milwaukee Brewers head out on a seven-game trip to St. Louis and Pittsburgh.
If all goes well Saturday, Guerra also could graduate from running on the treadmill to beginning on-field agility drills by Monday at Busch Stadium.
They’re quite literally small steps but positive ones nonetheless after several tough weeks for Guerra, who went down just three innings into his opening-day start April 3 against the Colorado Rockies after laying down a bunt.
“Obviously it’s very hard and it’s very frustrating,” Guerra said through translator Carlos Brizuela as he described the comeback trail.
“But you’ve just got to trust the process and go by it and continue it. That way I can come back 100% and be healthy the remainder of the year.”
The initial timeline for Guerra’s return was four to six weeks. Assuming there are no setbacks, he could be ready to go on a minor-league rehab assignment by the time the Brewers conclude their trip.
“It’s all been positive,” manager Craig Counsell said of Guerra’s recovery.
“He keeps taking the next step as the intensity of what he does increases. Bullpens, live batting practice, that’s where we eventually can start mapping out the next steps and we can kind of get a firmer date on when we expect him to hopefully be back.”
Tommy Milone went 1-0 with a 5.14 earned-run average in three starts as Guerra’s replacement. Matt Garza has since replaced Milone after returning from his own injury and took a no-decision in his only start April 24.
Santana out again: Slumping rightfielder Domingo Santana was out of the lineup for the second consecutive game, but Counsell said it was strictly a function of the way utility man Hernán Pérez has been hitting.
Pérez entered Friday hitting .429 with two home runs and eight runs batted in on the home stand, and he collected hits in his first three at-bats Friday. Santana was hitless in his last 18 at-bats and 1 for 21 on the home stand before hitting a pinch-hit, tworun home run in the sixth.
“I’d say this is more about Hernán than it is about Domingo,” Counsell said. “(Hernán’s) swinging the bat good. Domingo’s going to be in there. It’s just trying to take advantage of a guy that’s playing well right now.”
Counsell said earlier in the week that he was seeing signs Santana was getting closer to breaking out of his slump, and Santana proved his skipper right with the homer.
“He’s been unlucky hitting the ball,” he said. Santana’s batting average on balls in play was .205 entering Friday compared to .359 in 77 games in 2016.
“His ball-strike decision-making has been better this year,” Counsell added. “He’s getting better at it. To me they’re good signs; they just haven’t resulted in hits for him. That will change and that will improve and then he’ll kind of go back to normal.”
Can’t go wrong: Manny Piña and Jett Bandy entered Friday having split playing time virtually down the middle, and both had combined to form the most productive catching duo in the major leagues.
The pair was leading in batting average (.369), hits (31), extra-base hits (14), total bases (55), onbase percentage (.411), slugging percentage (.655) and OPS (1.066) and also was doing the job behind the plate with regard to defense and game-calling.
Because both are playing so well, Counsell doesn’t expect one to wrest the bulk of the playing time away from the other and become the primary catcher anytime soon. It’s been one of several intriguing storylines for the Brewers, who traded longtime catcher Jonathan Lucroy last season and longtime backup Martin Maldonado for Bandy in the off-season.
“They’re just playing really well on both sides of the ball. They’re going to share time,” Counsell said. “You’ve got two guys hot, it’s an easy decision. It’s a fun decision to make.
“We’re just playing it as it goes. Right now I really can’t see a scenario where one grabs the bulk of (playing time) because they’ve both earned it. I expect them to continue to share.”