PITTSBURGH – The Milwaukee Brewers have cut bait with Matt Bush, the reliever brought over at the trade deadline last year who never panned out, particularly failing to correct his problem giving up home runs.
The final straw for Bush came Friday night after he was summoned to protect a 7-5 lead in the ninth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Instead, he allowed three runs, including a walk-off home run to Carlos Santana.
“Matt Bush is on the roster,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Friday. “He hasn’t pitched in a while and he was fresh. It was his job to get the outs in the ninth and just couldn’t get it.”
Bush had a 5.94 earned run average in 37 games with the Brewers after they acquired him in exchange for pitching prospect Antoine Kelly last August. The right-hander allowed 11 home runs in 33 1/3 innings.
The Brewers also designated reliever Thomas Pannone for assignment after he went 2 2/3 innings Friday.
Milwaukee called up JB Bukauskas and Clayton Andrews from Triple-A Nashville. Andrews is a 2018 17th round draft pick by the Brewers, who will make his major-league debut when he first appears in a game.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Brewers drop Matt Bush, call up two from Nashville