Notes: Brewers catcher Manny Piña misses third straight game with sprained thumb

Catcher Manny Piña sat out a third consecutive game Sunday as the Milwaukee Brewers concluded their four-game series with the Chicago Cubs, and there's a chance he could be done for the final week of the regular season if his sprained left thumb doesn't improve.

Piña suffered the injury in a play at the plate in the 10th inning of the teams' opener Thursday, when Anthony Rizzo slid in and bent Piña's glove hand back. Piña then had to be pinch-hit for by Jett Bandy in the bottom half of the inning in a game the Cubs eventually won, 5-3.

Piña said an MRI revealed a sprained ligament, and as of Sunday the thumb remained markedly swollen.

"He’s hurting right now," acknowledged manager Craig Counsell. "We’ll evaluate it kind of as we go. We’ll look at it Tuesday and see how it is and we’ll go from there.

"Obviously, we’re running out of games. At this point, you just take it day by day. But he’s struggling with it right now."

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Piña has a custom support he can wear over the thumb for protection, and he's been undergoing all the usual treatments as he attempts to heal enough to play.

An off-day Monday will give him some additional time, then the Brewers close the regular season with their final three games at Miller Park against the Cincinnati Reds and then three at St. Louis.

“We’ll see. If I can catch, I’ll play," said Piña, who emerged as the Brewers' primary catcher earlier in the season and has hit .279 with nine home runs and 43 runs batted in.

Piña also has been a force defensively, as he's thrown out 33.3% of would-be base stealers (19 of 38) and is tied for the major-league league with six pickoffs (four at second base and two at first).

"If it bothers me hitting, I don’t worry too much," he added. "If it doesn’t bother me catching, I’m going to play because of the position we are in. I want to try.”

Catching depth isn't a problem for Milwaukee, which also has Stephen Vogt as well as Bandy and Andrew Susac. Counsell started the left-handed-hitting Vogt again Sunday against left-hander José Quintana — admittedly not the ideal matchup for the Brewers, but one that makes sense with his veteran status and familiarity with the Cubs.

Vogt has held his own offensively while adding another left-handed bat to the lineup but struggled badly throwing out runners; Willson Contreras' stolen base in the fourth inning Sunday left Vogt 1 for 25 since joining the Brewers.

"Certainly this is a day Manny would be in there," Counsell said. "Look, I’ve stuck with Stephen largely because he’s got three days into the series with their hitters. The other guys, Jett and Andrew, they just haven’t played a lot.

"It’s a tough spot to come into really not having played over the last couple months with significant action."

Stepping up: Entering the season, the rebuilding Brewers figured to be a few years away from competing with the defending World Series champion Cubs on a regular basis.

Instead, they came out of their season finale with a 9-10 record. Two of the games rank among the Brewers' most memorable of the year — an 11-2 victory at Wrigley Field on July 6 that put them a season-high 5 1/2 games up in the division and Saturday's 4-3, 10-inning classic at the top of the list.

"You’re playing the world champs. It’s a huge challenge," Counsell said when asked about how his team has responded. "Certainly through the course of a 19-game schedule, you understand why they won the World Series and why they’ve gone deep in the postseason.

"Our guys, as probably every team does that plays the Cubs, take it as a challenge because it’s a tough team to beat. It’s been a really good season series against them and obviously this weekend, for me, it’s been the best series of baseball in the major leagues.

"If somebody’s got another one, point it out. It’s been good baseball. Really good baseball."