Brewers call up Fiers to face Dodgers

After starting pitcher Matt Garza suffered a left oblique strain during last Sunday’s start against the division rival St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers manager Ron Roenicke was sent scrambling to find his replacement.

Right-hander Mike Fiers was his choice as he has been called up from Triple-A Nashville to start Saturday evening against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The other option Roenicke had was Marco Estrada, who started the season in the starting rotation prior to being demoted to the bullpen. But after Estrada was needed to eat up three innings in a 7-4 loss to San Francisco, Fiers became the obvious choice.

This will be Fiers second stint with the Brewers this season but first start in the big leagues this year. He went 0-1 with a 2.57 ERA in four relief appearances in June.

In 2012, Fiers made his big league starting debut against the Dodgers in Los Angeles throwing seven strong innings allowing only one run while striking out three. Fiers finished the season going 9-10 with a 3.74 ERA with a 1.261 WHIP in 23 games (22 starts).

At Nashville this season, he is 8-5 with a 2.55 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in 17 starts. He has also stuck out 129 batters while walking just 17 in 102 1/3 innings.

This will be Fiers’ first big league start in over a year, and he will start against former teammate Zack Greinke, who enters the contest 12-7 with a 2.71 ERA.

It will not be an easy start for Fiers going up against one of the top teams in the National League and squaring off against a former CY Young Award winner in Greinke. But if Fiers is able to go five or six innings while allowing only three runs, it will be a success.

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