'A great story': Daz Cameron, son of ex-Crew OF Mike, makes Brewers debut

ST. LOUIS -- Daz Cameron has fond memories of the Brewers organization as a kid.

“I was out there fielding and shagging,” Cameron said. “Yeah, I can remember like it was yesterday.”

Cameron -- the son of former Brewers outfielder Mike Cameron -- hopes to make more memories as a pro after Milwaukee selected him from Triple-A Nashville on Saturday.

“That’s a great story,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “You get a young man who has history with the Brewers, at least he's very familiar with our clubhouse staff.”

Cameron, 28, made his Brewers debut in the fifth, entering the game as a defensive replacement for Sal Frelick as part of a series of moves made by Murphy to try to break the club out of its current funk, which has reached a season-high four games after a gut-wrenching 6-5 loss to the Cardinals on Saturday.

Daz made an impact at Nashville since being acquired from Baltimore on April 7. He was hitting .370 with six homers and 18 RBIs in 11 games this season before getting called up.

“Just continuously did it consistently, day in, day out, and it's paid off,” Cameron said.

Cameron can play all three outfield spots.

“I remember competing against him last year when he was with Oakland for a short time,” Murphy said. “And yeah, we're excited to have him as a player.”

His promotion coincides with the Brewers placing Garrett Mitchell on the 10-day injured list with a strained left oblique. Mitchell left Milwaukee’s game on Friday after suffering the injury while swinging during an at-bat.

Mike Cameron played for the Brewers in 2008 and 2009. He and Daz became the third father-son duo to play for the Brewers following Tito Francona (1970) and Terry Francona (1989-1990) and Dave May (1970-1978) and Derrick May (1995).

“Any time you touch on some historic interest -- you know, my career was much more graceful, in a sense, and his is very ‘abrasive,’” Mike Cameron said. “He had much more fanfare leading up to all these different things, but he’s had to grind it in many different fashions, and any time we can catch corners and connect through the game of baseball in the sense of father and son, that’s always a blessing, man. To see him be able to put on that uniform is going to be pretty special.

“He’s been playing so well. I said, ‘Just go play, man. Go be good. Go do what you can and you’ll get the opportunity.’ It worked out very well for him.”

As has been the case during the Brewers' current four-game skid, they couldn’t overcome a series of bad luck plays, two of which were self-inflicted mental errors in the fourth and fifth innings.

After a single by Lars Nootbaar in the fourth, Frelick tried to throw out Masyn Winn at home. The throw was off the mark and allowed Nootbaar to take second, and he promptly scored on a Willson Contreras single.

Caleb Durbin later doubled home Joey Ortiz in the fifth, only to get picked off at second. Durbin was also replaced by Vinny Capra as part of the moves in the middle of the fifth.

Murphy said both Frelick and Durbin’s miscues came from being over-aggressive instead of lack of caring, but he still felt like he needed to send a message by benching them.

“I made a terrible throw,” Frelick said. “Wasn't trying to. I understood I was supposed to take the cut and just not a good throw, so [I] just have to be better out there.”

In the seventh, Jackson Chourio was called out for baserunners interference after Contreras’ throw to second hit him. The call prompted a lengthy argument from Murphy, who said that umpires ruled that Chourio purposefully obstructed the throw.

“I don't talk publicly about umpires, but that particular call, they got wrong and it changed the game,” Murphy said. “But they're good umpires and they know what they're doing. It's judgment, and, you know, it simply wasn't the [correct call].”

Still, the Brewers clawed their way back from a 5-0 deficit when Chourio capped a four-hit day with a two-run homer off Cardinals All-Star closer Ryan Helsley to tie the game in the ninth.

But the success was short-lived as Nolan Arenado ended the game with a solo homer off Trevor Megill.

“He came through clutch for us,” Megill said of Chourio. “And, you know, [I] just let the team down today.”

Murphy is confident that the Brewers luck will turn soon.

“These are the types of things that you go through,” Murphy said. “This could turn out to be a blessing in our season. It doesn't feel like it. … There's a lot to be hopeful for.”

MLB.com's Adam McCalvy contributed to this report.