Davies heads to IL with back stiffness

PITTSBURGH -- The Brewers’ pitching staff took another hit -- albeit a temporary one, they hope -- as the team placed Zach Davies on the 10-day injured list with back spasms on Monday. And the potential return date for starter Jimmy Nelson has also been set after Milwaukee transferred him to the 60-day IL.

Davies is now the third Brewers starter to hit the injured list in the past couple of weeks. The right-hander said he hasn’t felt “100 percent” recently, and with off-days coming up on Thursday and next Monday, he felt it was a good chance to give it a rest.

“My back locked up in my last start,” Davies said. “I’ve dealt with that back injury before, so it’s that point in the season where I don’t want the season to be lost and then not be able to pitch for the team.”

“He had some issues with his back in Chicago that we’re going to try to get out in front of,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He did throw his bullpen [session] yesterday in Chicago. It was actually a pretty good bullpen [session], but there is some back pain there, there’s some stiffness there."

With Davies’ injury, the entire Opening Day rotation is either injured (Davies, Jhoulys Chacin and Brandon Woodruff), in the bullpen (Freddy Peralta) or a combination of those two (Corbin Burnes). It’s forced Counsell to plan for a bullpen day on Wednesday, when Davies was expected to start against the Pirates, and that could look a number of ways based on Monday and Tuesday’s usage.

“The next two games are going to be important, and we have to be careful the next two games because of that,” he said. “But with the off-day Thursday, it helps.”

One of the candidates to eat up multiple innings that day will be Jake Faria, whom the club acquired for Jesus Aguilar on Wednesday prior to the Trade Deadline. Faria was optioned to Triple-A San Antonio, and his recall was only made possible by Davies’ IL stint, given that the right-handed reliever had not spent 10 days in the Minors.

Faria was brought up with the Rays originally as a starter, but he moved to the bullpen in 2018, when he was also used partially as an opener. In relief, he has posted a 3.71 ERA in 26 2/3 innings, using an effective splitter to keep hitters off balance.

“Once they moved me to the ‘pen, it kind of jump-started my stuff,” Faria said. “My stuff got better. I started throwing a little harder, so since the middle of the first month, it’s been going really well.”

Milwaukee also called up a starter-turned-electric reliever in Devin Williams, the club's No. 14 prospect per MLB Pipeline. Williams’ promotion was made possible by Nelson’s move to the 60-day injured list, meaning he will return in late August at the earliest. Right-handed reliever Aaron Wilkerson was optioned to San Antonio to make room for Williams on the active roster.

A 2019 Futures Game selection, Williams has dealt with health issues since '13 when he was the Brewers’ second-round Draft selection. He underwent Tommy John surgery in March '17, has worked his way back and is breaking out in '19, in which he’s recorded a 2.21 ERA across Double-A and Triple-A.

It’s a journey that’s been long and, at times, less than ideal, but it’s always been worth it.

“If I could do it again, I’d do it again, just to get to this moment right here,” the 24-year-old Williams said.

And if you’re wondering how his arm is now, Williams has hit 100 mph on the gun a few times, including his most recent outing with San Antonio.

“That’s just from my work this offseason,” he said, “getting my body right and now, coming out of the ’pen and being able to just max out for an inning or two.”

The thought of team debuts or Major League debuts is cause for celebration in one sense. But the necessity of reaching to Triple-A also presents more uncertainty for a Brewers team that has seen 27 pitchers on its staff at one point or another this season. Right now, the focus is on getting through this series, getting through the few days beyond that without Davies, then going from there.

“We’re challenged by that,” Counsell said of the pitching shuffle. “We’re going to have to make last-minute decisions, and it’s not going to always be planned out in advance. We’ve got to get through that, and I think we’ll come out on the other side pretty good. We’ve got to get through this series.”