COVID-19 cases keep piling up
COVID-19 still has the Milwaukee Brewers firmly in its grasp, as the team revealed two Friday more players have tested positive.
One of those – Adrian Houser – is a key member of the starting rotation, and now will miss at least two starts as a result. He was scheduled to next take the mound Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
“He reported symptoms today, so we tested him and it came back positive,” manager Craig Counsell said of the right-hander, who in his last appearance Tuesday threw 61⁄3 hitless innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Reliever Jandel Gustave, who’d been in quarantine since last weekend
after being deemed a close contact, has also since tested positive according to Counsell.
That brings the total number of players put on the COVID-19 injured list at nine, and the Brewers have had at least one confirmed case in six of the last seven days (the team was off Thursday).
Christian Yelich was the first to test positive in the outbreak.
He took batting practice on the field in anticipation of returning for the Brewers’ three-game series against the National League-leading San Francisco Giants at American Family Field, although he ultimately wasn’t activated.
Jace Peterson, who went on the COVID-19 IL along with Yelich on July 27, was the first to return.
“This is what it’s been,” Counsell said. “We don’t know what to expect kind of day to day. With Christian being back, we’re 10 days into it, essentially. I don’t know what that means, but that’s how long we’ve been dealing with it. So, we’re doing the best we can.
“I would say every day I’m hopeful there’s not one (more case). I’m trying to be an optimist about it.”
Counsell said as far as he’s aware, all the positive cases have resulted in mild symptoms. Yelich said that was the case for him, although he did lose some of his sense of taste and smell and they haven’t fully returned.
“I thought I was getting a cold,” he said. “I just wanted to get a little something to make me feel better before I got on the plane (for the last road trip). I was here early and was like, ‘You can test me if you want. I think I’m fine.’ It came back positive. I had another one and knew I was positive. And that was kind of a wrap.
“I mean, I wasn’t feeling great. But I didn’t think I had Covid by any means. It is what it is. It’s unfortunate that it’s something that we’re dealing with. It’s kind of running through the team a little bit right now.
“We just have to find a way.” Yelich pointed to the fact that the Brewers have endured myriad injuries to key players throughout the season – as evidenced by the franchise-record 58 players and counting that have appeared in a game – and still held a comfortable seven-game lead in the NL Central.
The Brewers’ Avisail Garcia hits a solo home run in the second inning Friday night against the Giants at American Family Field.
“It’s just a worry in the sense that you need enough guys to play,” he said when asked if the outbreak had him and others on the team worried about the team’s prospects moving forward.
“You don’t want to have too many guys out at the same time, but we just have to make the best we can with what we’ve guy. Guys have to step up. That’s kind of what we’ve been doing all year. Different guys have been stepping up, and when it’s their turn to do something big for the team, they seem to do it.
“As long as we don’t have huge chunks of guys out at the same time – that would be the one worry.”
Because he was quarantined in his residence, Yelich was unable to do anything baseball-related for the 10-day duration.
“It’s definitely weird,” he said, adding he spent his time binge-watching the series “Yellowstone” and learning to play an acoustic guitar he ordered on Amazon.
“It’s not like I was super sick or anything. It was just, ‘I’m not allowed to do anything.’ I felt fine very quickly. I felt like I did right now on Day 2. I felt like I had a cold coming on for a day or two and after that I had a stuffy nose, and by Day 3-4 I was fine again.
“I couldn’t taste or smell for a while. That was probably the worst part. It’s still not all the way back. Other than that, it was all good.”
Romano is familar with the Brewers
Right-hander Sal Romano, who was claimed off waivers from the New York Yankees on Tuesday, is the newest face in a bullpen that’s been upended by the COVID-19 outbreak.
He’s familiar with Milwaukee – and vice versa – considering he made his major-league debut at then-Miller Park in 2017 and pitched against the Brewers 11 times in all as a member of the Cincinnati Reds.
Romano began this season with the Reds, was designated for assignment on May 14 and then pitched in two majorleague games for the Yankees before again being designated for assignment on July 31.
“Yeah – especially the last couple weeks,” he said when asked about all the bouncing around he’s done. Just the traveling and meeting a lot of new people. I was with Cincinnati for 10 years, so it’s been a different type of thing for me.
“But I’m just trying to take it all in and trying to learn something new everywhere I go. Hopefully I can prove that I do belong here with Milwaukee, and go from there.”
In 16 total appearances this season for the Reds and Yankees, Romano has posted a 4.70 earned run average and WHIP of 1.39 with 15 strikeouts in 23 innings.
For his career, the 27-year-old is 15-19 with a 5.10 ERA and WHIP of 1.46 in 85 appearances (41 starts).
“He’s an arm we’ve liked in the past, and the fact he was on waivers at the right time (helped his case). That’s how it kind of worked out,” Counsell said. “We were fortunate because Sal is a guy we’ve always had some interest in, and so there was good timing in this situation.
“He’s had success. He’s taken his lumps a little bit, but talented and young enough to take another step. Hopefully we can help him do that.”
Romano said he’d heard good things about the Brewers from Mike Moustakas, who went from Milwaukee to Cincinnati a couple seasons ago, and that his familiarity with the NL Central should help him get acclimated quickly.
“Yeah, I’ve faced a bunch of these guys. I think the only weird part will be facing the Reds,” he said. “I faced a bunch of them in live BP in spring training, obviously, but that’s not the same as during the season.
“I’ve definitely got that one circled on my calendar and hopefully I get a chance to pitch against them.”