With ace Jimmy Nelson sidelined by a shoulder injury, the Brewers had to get creative to fill his spot in the rotation Wednesday. Fortunately, the circumstances of Saturday's blowout win over the Cubs lined up Chase Anderson to step in and pitch on short rest against the Pirates on Wednesday night at Miller Park.
Anderson threw only 67 pitches over five scoreless innings in Milwaukee's 15-2 victory at Wrigley Field. But this is still an unusual move. He has made only one previous start on short rest, and that followed a relief appearance. This will be his first time going from one start to another on fewer than four days of rest.
Anderson will start against Pirates rookie Tyler Glasnow, who will be making his first big league appearance since he was demoted in June. Glasnow struggled badly after breaking camp in the Pirates' rotation, posting a 7.45 ERA and 1.91 WHIP, with opponents recording a 1.000 OPS against him.
The former top prospect simplified his mechanics in Triple-A Indianapolis, and better results immediately followed. Glasnow's fastball velocity ticked up, his off-speed pitches regained their effectiveness and his command improved as he put together a 1.93 ERA with 140 strikeouts in 93 1/3 innings over 15 outings for Indianapolis.
The Pirates have seen Glasnow put up mind-boggling Triple-A numbers before, but they believe he's now better suited to make it translate to the Majors.
"In our minds, his dominant performance this year was different than his dominant performance a year ago in that he threw pitches that were more apt to get Major League hitters than Triple-A hitters out," general manager Neal Huntington said. "He feels much more athletic and much more able to repeat his delivery, which is going to help the command."
Anderson threw only 67 pitches over five scoreless innings in Milwaukee's 15-2 victory at Wrigley Field. But this is still an unusual move. He has made only one previous start on short rest, and that followed a relief appearance. This will be his first time going from one start to another on fewer than four days of rest.
Anderson will start against Pirates rookie Tyler Glasnow, who will be making his first big league appearance since he was demoted in June. Glasnow struggled badly after breaking camp in the Pirates' rotation, posting a 7.45 ERA and 1.91 WHIP, with opponents recording a 1.000 OPS against him.
The former top prospect simplified his mechanics in Triple-A Indianapolis, and better results immediately followed. Glasnow's fastball velocity ticked up, his off-speed pitches regained their effectiveness and his command improved as he put together a 1.93 ERA with 140 strikeouts in 93 1/3 innings over 15 outings for Indianapolis.
The Pirates have seen Glasnow put up mind-boggling Triple-A numbers before, but they believe he's now better suited to make it translate to the Majors.
"In our minds, his dominant performance this year was different than his dominant performance a year ago in that he threw pitches that were more apt to get Major League hitters than Triple-A hitters out," general manager Neal Huntington said. "He feels much more athletic and much more able to repeat his delivery, which is going to help the command."
