Brewers replace injured Gio Gonzalez with Zach Davies on NLCS roster

After the 13-inning marathon that was Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, the Milwaukee Brewers were able to add a pitching reinforcement before Game 5 less than 15 hours later. Zach Davies was added to Milwaukee’s NLCS roster in place of an injured Gio Gonzalez.

Gonzalez suffered a high ankle sprain fielding a ground ball in the second inning of Game 4, and exited the game one pitch later. He went for tests late Tuesday night.

Major League Baseball approved the move on Wednesday morning, which per the rules means Gonzalez is ineligible for not only the rest of the NLCS but also the World Series as well, should the Brewers advance that far.

This is the second mid-series injury replacement in the 2018 postseason. The Boston Red Sox replaced an injured Steven Wright in their bullpen after Game 1 of the American League Division Series, instead adding Heath Hembree to the squad.

The right-handed Davies had a 4.77 ERA in 13 starts for the Brewers this season, a campaign interrupted by shoulder and back problems that required two stints on the disabled list.

Losing Gonzalez in the second inning created a pitching scramble for the Brewers, who covered the final 12 innings with six relievers. While the Dodgers used all eight relievers on their roster, the Brewers in Game 4 managed to avoid using Jeremy Jeffress, Brandon Woodruff and Xavier Cedeño.

“We’ll have to kind of put our heads together and look at what we’ve got. We’ve got some guys we’ve used quite a bit,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Tuesday. “We were able to stay away from a couple of guys tonight. But we’re in a little bit of a tough spot, for sure.”