LOS ANGELES – With Cooper Pratt already on the shelf, the Milwaukee Brewers double-play combination took another hit before a critical series. Second baseman Brice Turang was out of the lineup for the series opener Aug. 13 against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium while dealing with left knee pain. Turang is day-to-day, manager Pat Murphy indicated, after an MRI didn't reveal any serious damage. Turang will get a second opinion on the imaging. "Been nursing this knee pain and just got to a point where he really needs to take some time," Murphy said. "We don't know how long. They're saying day-to-day. He had an MRI today. The MRI did not reveal so far anything we're too worried about. Obviously, he can't play tonight." Turang, who is batting .268 with a .810 OPS and leads the team in runs and RBI, isn't yet ruled out for the four-game series between the top two teams in the National League. Pratt, the Brewers starting shortstop, is on the 10-day injured list while Jackson Chourio, batting leadoff in the opener, continues to play through a left thumb injury. It's not an optimal situation coming off a three-game sweep in San Diego. "A lot of things are hard right now but guess what?" Murphy said. With the starting middle infield duo out, the Brewers got creative with their lineup against the Dodgers in the opener, playing Gary Sánchez at first base and Andrew Vaughn at third. "Gary's a baseball player and we just keep putting baseball players out there," Murphy said. "Vaughn at third, Gary at first is not ideal. It doesn't show up on the metrics as this is going to be a great defensive team out there. Gary's a baseball player and his bat, how do we keep him out of there? And how do you get William [Contreras] going if you don't put him in there? That's the dilemma I'm in. With the middle infield out, it's tough."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers dealing with another injury during slump as Brice Turang is out