injury lands Lucroy on 15-day DL

Rampant injuries had been doing their best to dismantle the Brewers already-struggling offense all throughout the month of May, but on Monday, the team was dealt quite possibly its worst news yet.

After a freak accident involving Jonathan Lucroy caused him to be scratched from Monday's lineup, an MRI revealed that Lucroy has a boxer's fracture of the right hand on his fifth metacarpal -- an injury that the team announced will land the hot-hitting Brewers catcher on the 15-day disabled list.

Lucroy will be re-examined by Milwaukee team doctor William Raasch when he returns to Wisconsin, but Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash told reporters after the game that Lucroy's injury will likely keep him out for four to six weeks, a crushing blow to a team desperate for the key offense Lucroy has provided in the past month. As one of the hottest hitters in baseball in May, Lucroy was batting .345 with five home runs and 30 RBI this season.

"Obviously it hurts our team a lot," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "But I feel really bad for him, too. He's having some kind of incredible year so far. He feels really bad, and I feel bad for him."

Catcher Martin Maldonado will be called up from Triple-A Nashville to take Lucroy's place on the roster and back up George Kottaras. Maldonado had been struggling to hit for average in Nashville, as his batting average sits at .198, but he has added four home runs and 13 RBI in 35 games with the Sounds this season. Roenicke said that he'll get the chance to play right away, considering that Kottaras is still not at 100 percent. Kottaras had injured his hamstring slightly in the Brewers' final game against the Diamondbacks on Sunday.

Lucroy told reporters before the game that he sustained the injury when his wife accidentally dropped a suitcase on his hand, while searching underneath his hotel bed for a lost sock last night. No doubt, it was as strange of an injury as the Brewers have seen all season long.

But nothing should surprise Milwaukee at this point, as two Brewers players tore their ACL's on seemingly regular plays -- a slide and chasing a foul pop fly. It's the sheer frequency of the team's injuries that has been the most concerning though, as the Brewers already have three season-ending injuries from Mat Gamel, Chris Narveson, and Alex Gonzalez and have seen Marco Estrada, Carlos Gomez, Travis Ishikawa, Cesar Izturis, and now, Lucroy, all spend significant time on the disabled list.byryankartje