Brewers' Willy Adames leaves game due to quad injury

Willy Adames left Saturday night’s game before the seventh inning due to what manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Tom Haudricourt of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) was a re-aggravation of the Brewers shortstop's nagging quadriceps injury. According to Counsell, Adames hurt himself while avoiding Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt on a pickoff attempt in the fifth inning.

Adames has missed a few games due to this lingering quad problem over the last couple of weeks, but between taking that time off and serving as a DH during a pair of interleague road games against the Twins, it seemed as though he was back to good health. Saturday marked his fifth straight game back at his normal shortstop position, and Adames didn’t look any worse for wear until this incident.

As per Haudricourt, Counsell “sounds as if [Adames] could miss more time,” although the skipper said Adames would be re-evaluated on Sunday. Counsell said earlier this week that the Brewers planned to rest Adames more often down the stretch, so considering this latest injury flare-up, a 10-day injured list trip wouldn’t be out of the question to get Adames completely healed and ready for the postseason. This presumes that his quad injury isn’t anything more serious, although in that regard, it is at least a good sign that Adames was able to play for another inning before eventually departing.

The Brewers already have a healthy lead in the NL Central, due in large part to Adames’ sterling performance since being acquired from the Rays on May 21. Adames entered Saturday’s game hitting .288/.370/.525 with 17 home runs over his first 362 plate appearances with Milwaukee, although perhaps due to his quad issues, his bat has cooled off over the past two weeks.

Luis Urias is the likeliest candidate to shift over to shortstop if Adames does have to miss time, and trade-deadline pickup Eduardo Escobar and utilityman Jace Peterson will probably split at-bats at third base. Kolten Wong will return to his customary second base spot once he returns from the paternity list.