Relievers got through quarantine together
CHICAGO — Playing in Atlanta always has been something to look forward to for Hunter Strickland.
But the Milwaukee Brewers‘ annual trip to Truist Park to face the Braves at the end of July truly couldn't have lined up better for the Georgia native after learning he tested positive for COVID-19.
Immediately placed into quarantine per Major League Baseball protocol, Strickland headed about 70 miles south of Atlanta to the tiny town of Meansville (population 192) where he'd ride out the illness in his just-completed dream house.
Strickland invited fellow right-hander Jake Cousins — also having just tested positive himself — to join him as his guest at the compound.
Together, they rode out their 10-day banishment in an environment about as ideal as one could manufacture for such a situation.
“Oh my gosh, to think if we got COVID in Pittsburgh and would have been stuck in the hotel room?” postulated Cousins, who was reinstated from the injured list prior to the Brewers' doubleheader with the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday at Wrigley Field.
Milwaukee had begun its six-game road trip at PNC Park against the Pirates before moving on to face the Braves. And in a case of perfect timing, it was in Atlanta the Brewers traded for relievers John Curtiss and Daniel Norris.
“You don't want to get COVID at all,” Cousins said, “but being in Atlanta where Hunter just bought a house and finished it during the all-star break was huge. I got a rental car and drove down an hour and a half south.
“He has a camper that he's stayed in with his family during the past few years. He pulled it up and attached it to the electric outside on his driveway. So, I stayed there. He didn't want to get his family sick so he was in the guest room. I stayed in the camper and it was awesome.
“I had my own setup, I had a chair outside where I would go out in the morning and read. He's got 200 acres. It was beautiful Georgia country.
“It was pretty nice.” Creature comforts aside, Strickland and Cousins were also able to do everything they needed to do with regard to throwing and conditioning aside from having a catcher, right on down to utilizing a Rapsodo pitching unit.
“It worked out great,” said Strickland, who was cleared to return and added to the roster Monday. “Obviously, that's where I do my offseason training. I have a warehouse a couple miles from my house and I have it equipped with all the weights and whatever we needed there.
I've got a portable mound, a net we could throw into and we rode up to the high school ballfield a couple times and played catch there.
“It all worked out.”
Added Cousins: “Just keeping your arm in shape was huge and being able to see your pitches and throw to Hunter and have him give feedback and everything. We would run after we throw. I mean, just like what we normally do before a game.
“So yeah, we're hoping to not have to skip a beat and just be able to come back and keep rolling.”
While the duo was able to keep up work-wise, each was affected differently by the virus. Both players were vaccinated.
“I had sinus congestion. I couldn't really hear for a couple of days, just because of all the pressure, and then I lost my sense of smell for a few days,” Cousins said. “But that was honestly it. I probably had symptoms for three days and then I was totally back to normal for six or seven.
“I was vaccinated. And hopefully, that was the reason why I didn't have any (more serious) symptoms. I mean, that's the whole point of vaccination, is that you don't have any major symptoms. Who knows what my symptoms would have been like if I wasn't vaccinated?”
Strickland wasn't so lucky.
“It hit me pretty good, unfortunately,” he said. “I had a fever, body aches to start off with. I can't taste or smell anything. It's different. The worst thing is the hearing loss. There were a couple days there where I couldn't hear anything. I had kids screaming in front of me right in my face and I had no idea what they were saying.”
Another Brewers reliever, Jandel Gustave, wasn't as fortunate as his bullpen buddies.
He was first quarantined as a close contact in Atlanta, then eventually tested positive for COVID-19 three days later and placed on the IL. The right-hander will end up having spent more than two weeks alone in an Atlanta hotel by the time all is said and done.
To make room for Cousins on the roster, right-hander Sal Romano was designated for assignment.