Yelich is out with oblique tightness
It didn’t take long for the Brewers’ surplus of outfielders to become a plus.
As expected Thursday night, Christian Yelich was out of the lineup for the series opener against the Chicago Cubs at Miller Park with right oblique tightness. Manager Craig Counsell, who removed Yelich from the game against St. Louis in the seventh inning Wednesday, said there was no timetable for a return to action.
“It’s day to day,” general manager David Stearns confirmed. “He’s got a little bit of soreness. These things are going to happen throughout the course of the year. I think whenever you have your first ‘ding’ of the year it gets a little bit more attention.
“But as we know, over the course of 162 (games) there are going to be a lot of times where guys are going to be down for a couple of days. That’s what we anticipate here, and hopefully it progresses quickly and we can get him back out there.”
Yelich didn’t specify Wednesday night exactly when he began feeling tightness in the oblique, but Counsell said it almost certainly came while swinging the bat in the St. Louis series. If it was bothering him in Game 2 you never would have known it because Yelich tied the game with a two-out, two-strike home run in the ninth, setting up a gamewinning blast by Ryan Braun.
“He’s not really firm on when he did it with us, either,” Counsell said. “I think it just gradually got to the point where he was kind of feeling it. He did it hitting. You do this hitting. It’s a hitting injury. He hasn’t been dealing with this. It’s new.
“It gradually got to the point where it was bugging him enough to say something. It hasn’t been since (the opening series in) San Diego. You have to be smart about stuff. The thing about baseball is the schedule doesn’t really let you heal. There are times when you need to take a step back. Otherwise, the healing is never going to take place.
“In the scope of things, one or two games, or three games, whatever, a weekend, is not a big deal. You try to minimize it. If we can keep it to that instead of two weeks, then we’re doing the right thing.”
Counsell said he would have started the left-handed-hitting Yelich against Cubs lefty Jon Lester, but his absence allowed Counsell to get another righthanded bat in the lineup.
Braun stayed in left field instead of moving to first base, and backup first baseman Jesús Aguilar got his first start instead of lefty-hitting Eric Thames.
The starting gun: Named the Brewers’ No. 5 starter before the end of spring training, right-hander Brandon Woodruff gets his first start Friday night against the Cubs. Because of an off day after the opening series in San Diego, Counsell skipped Woodruff and instead pitched him twice out of the bullpen, including Monday against St. Louis.
“I can’t wait,” Woodruff said. “Just getting back in a starter’s routine and getting used to that is going to be great. It’s a big game, so it’s going to be fun to pitch in it. I’ve had this to look forward to. Before, I was just told to be in the bullpen and be ready when they needed me.
“I’d never done it (pitched in relief). I respect those guys a lot. That’s something you have to work at, just like being a starter. You have to learn how to do it. It’s hard. You have to be ready at all times. That’s the toughest part.”
Though Woodruff doesn’t have four days of rest as usual with starters, Counsell said there would be no pitch-count limitations.
“I don’t think so,” Counsell said. “He has pitched a couple of times, and he was fully stretched out in spring training. He’s good to go. It’s not like he hasn’t pitched in 12 days or something like that.
“The sequence of it actually worked out very well. He’s got three full days off after throwing less than 30 pitches. He’s in perfect shape to make this start.”
Friend or foe: The series opener provided a litmus test for the ticket plan introduced over the winter by the Brewers in which Wisconsin residents got first dibs on tickets for games against the Cubs. It was an attempt at cutting into what had become an overwhelming ratio of Chicago to Milwaukee fans in recent years.
“I don’t know what to expect,” Counsell said. “We’ll see if the plan they hatched has any positive results. I know they tried something different with ticket sales. I hope it has positive results for Brewers fans.
“I get it. Chicago dwarfs Milwaukee in size. And it’s easier to get here than it is to Wrigley for a lot of Cubs fans. So, it’s not a surprise. I’m for more Brewers fans here, for sure. I think we all are. One hundred percent.”