Brewers star's injury worse than initially thought

The Brewers placed Jackson Chourio on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 30, with a right hamstring strain. Brandon Lockridge, acquired from San Diego on Thursday in the Nestor Cortes trade, has reported to the team. Lockridge jumps into right field and gets the nod at the top of the lineup tonight against Nationals southpaw Mitchell Parker.

Chourio suffered the injury on Tuesday against the Cubs. He drilled a ball off the centerfield wall and legged out a triple. Chourio pulled up as he approached third base, and while he nevertheless made it there safely, he was immediately replaced by pinch-runner Blake Perkins. Manager Pat Murphy told reporters that the strain is more severe than initially anticipated, via Curt Hogg of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. He’ll certainly be out longer than 10 days, and Murphy left open the possibility of a month-plus-long absence.

Milwaukee recently welcomed Sal Frelick back from his own hamstring strain. He’ll get the majority of the right field playing time, though he’s out of the lineup Friday night against the lefty starter Parker. Frelick’s return had initially pushed Perkins into a fourth outfield role. He’s now in line for everyday playing time in center field. The switch-hitting Perkins missed most of the season because of a spring training shin fracture. He stole 23 bases with a .240/.316/.332 slash line a year ago. Chourio’s injury might’ve played a role in Milwaukee’s decision to add the speedster Lockridge, a righty-hitting fourth outfielder without much offensive upside.

Perkins is a capable stopgap, but he clearly has a much lower ceiling than Chourio offers. The 21-year-old is batting .276/.311/.474 with 29 doubles, four triples and 17 home runs. He was a bit inconsistent early in the year, but he’d been on a tear (.367 with four homers and 12 extra-base hits) in July. The injury halts that hot streak and will cost him at least a few weeks as the Brewers battle the Cubs for the NL Central crown. They enter play Friday leading Chicago by a half-game and narrowly hold MLB’s best record at 64-44.