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Prior to today's game against the Nationals, the Brewers demoted reliever Mike Fiers back to Nashville. In his place, the team called up right-hander Alfredo Figaro.
This move is almost certainly a direct result of the team needing 16 innings to lose to the Nationals last night. Fiers pitched four of those innings, allowing four hits and giving up the game-winning runs in the final frame. He struck out four batters with no walks.
Those two runs were the only ones given up by Fiers in his brief call-up, during which he pitched seven innings. Fiers, of course, had a nice 2012 campaign primarily in Milwaukee's starting rotation before going through some struggles in 2013. This year, he had a 2.53 ERA in Triple-A before being called up.
Figaro has not had such success with Nashville this year. In 19 games, he has a 5.02 ERA and 1.78 WHIP. He's been a little better recently, allowing four runs over 11.2 innings in his last seven appearances for the sounds. Unfortunately, there aren't really any truly better options in Nashville that are on the 40-man roster, so the Brewers choice was limited.
The Brewers are still waiting on Jim Henderson and Tyler Thornburg to get healthy. Unfortunately, neither one appears close to a return at this point. There have already been rumors that Milwaukee is looking at potential trade partners for a bullpen addition.
For now, it's Figaro's turn to try his hand in the back of the Brewers rotation. We'll have to hope he pitches better than he has in the minors this year.
