Knebel injured in terrible night for the Brewers

Milwaukee, W.I. ~ All-Star Brewers closer Corey Knebel injured his left hamstring last night and will be placed on the Disabled List after collapsing on the mound last night in an 8-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs last night at Miller Park.

During a blowout loss to the division rival Cubs, manager Craig Counsell put Knebel in the game because he hadn’t pitched since last Friday in San Diego. After giving up a two-run homerun to Jason Heyward, Knebel collapsed after grabbing on his left hamstring after a pitch. Knebel was helped off the mound and into the clubhouse by the team trainers, and he could hardly put any weight on his left leg.

“It’s a DL for sure,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said after the game. “We had to help him off the field, but we’ll know the severity of it [Friday].

“They’re putting a lot of torque on their body there. I’ve seen it before, but it’s somewhat rare. It happened.”

Judging from what happened on the field, it looked as if Knebel was in some serious pain, and many Brewers stated that he was after the game.

The best thing for the Brew Crew to do right now is to forget about this game and start over. All faces of the team played extremely poorly last night from the starting pitching to the hitting to their defense.

“That was tough, especially in that type of game when he’s just trying to get some work in,” reliever Jacob Barnes said. “We can only hope for the best right now. It didn’t look good at all.”

With Knebel’s injury, Barnes could fill the closing role. After struggling through Spring Training, Barnes has pitched well so far this season. However, newcomers Matt Albers or Dan Jennings could be better fit for the job as well as Josh Hader, who has experience late in the game.

“We’ll figure it out,” Counsell said. “We’re in good shape. We’ll get a fresh arm here [Friday].”

By Jacob Szczap