Wilson's return ruined by 'heart-wrenching' injury

ATLANTA -- Baseball can be cruel sometimes, and it’s not just having to handle the relentless Braves lineup inning after inning.

The Brewers suffered a potentially impactful and particularly heartbreaking injury on Friday amid a 10-7 loss to the Braves, when veteran left-hander Justin Wilson, a 35-year-old veteran of 11 Major League seasons, was unable to answer the call for what was supposed to be his return to the mound following a 14-month rehab from Tommy John surgery.

Wilson “felt something pretty significant” in his left lat or triceps on his final warm-up pitch, and will land back on the injured list on Saturday as he undergoes more tests, according to manager Craig Counsell, just a day after being activated.

“To get all the way back and be ready to do the fun stuff, which is pitch in a game,” Counsell said, “it’s just really unfortunate.”

Austin Riley and Matt Olson had already smacked back-to-back home runs against right-hander Bryse Wilson to open the seventh inning, and the Braves were looking for more when Counsell went to the mound and signaled for Justin Wilson, finally set to make his return. But out in the ‘pen, Brewers bullpen coach Jim Henderson had the phone in one hand and his other hand in the air, trying to alert Counsell or the dugout that something was amiss. Wilson, meanwhile, was crouched on a bullpen mound holding his left side under his arm.

While a despondent Wilson paced, right-hander J.C. Mejía prepared to enter the game instead.

It turned into a four-run inning for the Braves, which proved significant when Abraham Toro lined a home run in the eighth -- Milwaukee's 11th hit -- to cut a six-run deficit to three and give the Brewers their most runs and hits in any game since the All-Star break.

But they were in too deep a hole. After a 31-minute rain delay at the start of the night, the Brewers spotted starter Adrian Houser a 2-0 lead in the second inning before he lost it amid a Braves flurry in the bottom of the frame, when a bases-empty, two-out situation became a 3-2 Braves lead in the span of five hitters. It started with Marcell Ozuna coming back from a 1-2 count to work a nine-pitch walk.

“They’re ready to attack you when they smell blood,” Houser said.

When the Brewers took a 4-3 lead in the fourth, the Braves answered again with an Ozuna home run, then pushed further ahead with two more runs charged to Houser before he could record an out in the fifth.

That’s the modus operandi of the Braves, who lead the Majors in victories, home runs and slugging percentage and rank third in runs scored.

Asked whether it’s one of the best lineups he’s seen in a Major League career that began in 2015, Houser said, “I would have to say so. One through nine, they’re really good. They’re ready to hit. They have a good approach. And like I said, if they smell blood in the water, if they see a little bit of weakness, they’re ready to jump on it and get going and put up 10 runs on us tonight.”

The outcome of the game was one thing, but concern for Wilson was another. The Brewers signed him in Spring Training knowing he wouldn’t be an option for the Majors until late July, and he spent the spring and early summer toiling in the Arizona heat. Milwaukee was eager to add Wilson to a bullpen that has evolved recently into a real strength, now that Hoby Milner has settled in and right-handers Elvis Peguero and Joel Payamps have claimed key set-up roles ahead of All-Star closer Devin Williams.

Wilson, it was thought, could help Milner carry the left-handed load, and his experience meant he could be counted upon in any number of different roles. Now, that’s on hold.

“I absolutely feel for him. Tommy John surgery is a long grind,” said Houser, who underwent the procedure in 2016, a year after being traded from the Astros to the Brewers. “You go through a lot, mentally and physically.”

The Brewers' pitcher who knows best what Wilson went through is left-hander Aaron Ashby, who also spent the bulk of this season at the team’s training complex in Phoenix rehabbing an injury.

“He’s not a guy who smiles a whole bunch, but you could just see how excited he was to be back here,” Ashby said. “The last 4-5 months, it’s the most up-and-down roller coaster ever. You’re separated from your team, and your family at times. Players [yearn] for that competition, and you don’t have it. You don’t have anything. It’s only the hunger of coming back and competing that fuels you.

“To finally get back after over a year, and to have it happen on the last pitch before you’re supposed to come back, it’s just heart-wrenching, dude. It sucks.”