Brewers lose another starter as Nestor Cortes lands on injured list with a left elbow strain

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers placed left-hander Nestor Cortes on the 15-day injured list Sunday with a flexor strain in his left elbow, further depleting the team's starting pitching.

The loss of Cortes leaves the Brewers with Freddy Peralta as the only healthy pitcher among those projected to be in the five-man rotation this season.

Cortes' elbow problem surfaced last weekend following a rough outing that saw him give up three home runs on consecutive pitches and five overall in a 20-9 loss to the New York Yankees. Imaging tests revealed no structural damage, and Cortes threw six shutout innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night.

“Leading up to the game it wasn’t feeling great but it felt good enough to pitch and that’s what I did,” Cortes said. “After that is when I started feeling more sore than usual.”

Cortes said the elbow didn't feel right on Friday, and on Saturday he and the team agreed he needed to go on the injured list. Left-handed reliever Grant Wolfram was recalled from Triple-A Nashville.

The Brewers said further testing would be done on Cortes' elbow.

“This is not a situation that we think is going to be a long-term issue,” assistant general manager Matt Kleine said. “We’re still in the process of gathering information -- that’ll take another few days -- but as of right now, this is looking more like a short-term issue than a long-term issue.”

Cortes has dealt with the injury before. He missed a month last season and, despite not being fully recovered, he returned to pitch for the Yankees in the World Series. Cortes said the reward of pitching in the World Series outweighed the risk of a potential long-term injury.

“If I have a ring and then a year off of baseball, then so be it,” he said at the time.

Cortes didn’t get the ring. He gave up a walk-off grand slam to Freddie Freeman in Game 1 and the Yankees lost in five games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. A few weeks later he was traded to Milwaukee in a deal that sent All-Star closer Devin Williams to New York.

While the injury is similar, Cortes wasn't sure his current problem has anything to do with his return last fall.

“I can't really tell, to be honest," Cortes said. "Last year I was trying to get back as soon as possible so I could have a chance to pitch in the playoffs, but I feel like we did everything we could do in that short amount of time to get me as ready as possible. I took a month off of throwing in the offseason and maybe that wasn't enough, I don't know, but I was feeling well all spring. I made all my outings.”

The Brewers were confident Cortes would be ready when spring training opened, and their medical staff devised a plan to build him up carefully for the regular season.

“Between me and the medical staff, we’ve had good communication,” Cortes said. “Once I got traded, I got an MRI in the offseason and then going through the whole rehab process in the offseason gave us a better idea of where I stood with the arm.

“We did a really good job in spring training so it sucks that we’re here right now.”

Cortes is the eighth Brewers pitcher, and seventh starter, to land on the injured list.

Milwaukee went into camp knowing they’d be without Brandon Woodruff until at least May while he works his way back from shoulder surgery in September 2023. Robert Gasser was out, too, after undergoing Tommy John surgery last summer.

DL Hall suffered a lat injury just before camp opened, and Aaron Ashby and Tobias Myers were lost to oblique injuries. Aaron Civale got in one start before he landed on the IL with a hamstring strain.

To shore up depth, the Brewers signed veteran left-hander Jose Quintana in mid-March but he’s yet to make a start. He has remained in Arizona to continue building up strength after his late arrival.

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