Brewers Bullpen Takes a Hit as Abner Uribe Heads to the Injured List

The Milwaukee Brewers are officially placing flamethrowing reliever Abner Uribe on the injured list, according to MLB Trade Rumors. Because if there is one thing a team needs during a grueling West Coast road trip, it is losing a guy who throws baseballs fast enough to get a speeding ticket in a school zone.

Uribe is the kind of arm that makes late-inning leads feel secure, or at least highly entertaining. Taking him out of the bullpen mix forces the coaching staff to completely rewire their bridge to the ninth inning.

The timing is objectively terrible. Milwaukee just survived a brutal sweep at the hands of the San Diego Padres where they surrendered 18 runs in three games. They finally stopped the bleeding with a tight 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, but now they have to finish the weekend without one of their best weapons.

Bullpens are fragile ecosystems. You remove one guy who can casually touch triple digits, and suddenly every other reliever is pitching an inning earlier than they are supposed to. For anyone looking at live betting lines or late-game totals, the Brewers just became a lot more vulnerable in the seventh and eighth innings.

Milwaukee has two more games against the Dodgers this weekend before they can even think about heading home. Until we get a concrete timeline on Uribe's return, expect the Brewers to rely heavily on duct tape and vibes to get those final nine outs.