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This could be the toughest blow yet for the Brewers, considering Lucroy was their second-best run-producer and a vital part of the pitching as batterymate for four of the team’s five starters. There was a lot of postgame reaction to the news, and you’ll find it all on Brewers.com later tonight.

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Catcher Jonathan Lucroy was scratched from the lineup Monday with a bruised right hand suffered in a bizarre accident. He was reaching under his hotel room bed Sunday night for a lost sock when his wife shifted a suitcase, which fell on Lucroy’s hand.

Lucroy kept quiet and reported to Dodger Stadium to take some swings. It became clear he couldn’t play because he couldn’t properly grip the bat.

He was to undergo x-rays Monday afternoon.

“I didn’t want to say anything because I don’t like not playing,” he said. “I want to play. But I went down and took some swings and it didn’t feel good, so I had to spill it.”

George Kottaras will catch instead. He’s banged-up too, after experiencing left hamstring cramping on Sunday.

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Ishikawa is suffering from a left rib-cage strain and will be replaced beginning Monday by Brooks Conrad, who was 0-for-21 in his first stint with the Brewers this season.

Manager Ron Roenicke revealed Ishikawa’s previously undisclosed ailment on Sunday morning after meeting behind closed doors with his coaches and then with assistant general manager Gord Ash. They discussed how to best manage the myriad of issues facing the Brewers, who have six players on the disabled list plus a handful dealing with bumps and bruises.

By the end of the day, the latter group included:

– Reliever Kameron Loe, who Roenicke revealed was not available this weekend in Arizona because of right elbow discomfort;

– Catcher George Kottaras, who experienced hamstring cramping while scoring a run in the sixth inning of Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the D-backs and is considered day-to-day;

– Center fielder Carlos Gomez, who is still not running at 100 percent since returning from a hamstring strain;

– And third baseman Aramis Ramirez, who was forced to miss a second straight start Sunday with a bruised left elbow.

Ramirez was hurt on a ninth-inning hit by pitch on Friday night. The Brewers were hopeful he’d play Sunday; now that same sense of hope shifts to Monday in Los Angeles.

“We’re banged up,” Roenicke said.

Ishikawa started feeling discomfort on his left side during the Brewers’ May 16-17 visit to Houston, though he’s not sure how he was hurt. He has played in five games since then.

“I’m trying to play through it,” Ishikawa said on Sunday morning, hours before he landed on the DL.

With Ishikawa out, the Brewers could use a combination of Corey Hart, the erstwhile right fielder, Conrad and young Taylor Green at first base. But as long as Ramirez remains sidelined, the Brewers also need Green at third.

Gomez’s issue is less concerning. He spent two weeks on the DL this month and has been working back to full speed.

“He doesn’t really feel it, but there’s always that apprehensiveness of not going 100 percent,” Roenicke said. “He doesn’t want to go like ‘Gomey’ usually goes. It affects his game.”

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Opponents have dotted the Brewers 29 times, most by far in the National League and second-most in the Majors entering Saturday to Tampa Bay’s 30. No other NL club had been hit more than the Cubs’ 16.

Ryan  Braun (hit five times) and Nyjer Morgan (four) rank second and third among NL hitters in plunkings. Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks and Jonathan Lucroy have been hit three times apiece, all tied for fifth in the league.

“That’s got to change, because that’s not fun,” Ramirez said. “You can hurt people. Look at [Rickie] Weeks, he missed three games when he got hurt when he was hit by a pitch [in a game against the Cubs earlier this month]. I’m missing today. At some point, that’s got to stop.”

How do you make it stop?

“You don’t want to hit people, and you don’t want to hurt people, but at the same time, you have to protect your players,” Ramirez said.  ”It’s one thing to pitch in and another thing to pitch at people.

“I always say, it’s tough to hit me because I’m far away from the plate. Braun is the same way, he’s far away from the plate. If you hit Braun or myself, it doesn’t have to be on purpose, but we shouldn’t be hit that often. That’s why I say, it’s hard to make it stop, and I understand that pitchers have to pitch in, they have to use both sides of the plate, but if you don’t know how to pitch in, you shouldn’t be going in there.”

Either Brewers pitchers are not working inside, or they are hitting their spots when they do. Entering Friday, they had hit the third-fewest opposing batters — nine — in the Majors.

Ramirez was in the Brewers’ original lineup but that changed before the team took the field to stretch. Cody Ransom shifted from shortstop to third base and Edwin Maysonet was inserted as the starter at shortstop.

“I’m doing all right,” Ramirez said. “I’m going to take today off and work on it. Hopefully, I’ll be ready to go [Sunday].”

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Cody Ransom, who’d just joined the Brewers on Friday after they claimed him off waivers, took over at shortstop after Izturis’ sixth-inning departure and will start there on Saturday. Edwin Maysonet, optioned to Triple-A Nashville to clear Ransom’s roster spot, will rejoin the team.

The Brewers already lost Opening Day shortstop Alex Gonzalez to a season-ending knee injury.

How many hits can the team absorb at that position?

“We can’t take any more,” Roenicke said.

Izturis said he felt a tug in his hamstring running to second base on his sixth-inning double. When Corey Hart singled to left field, third-base coach Ed Sedar waved Izturis home, but the veteran felt another “grab” and instead held up, then rested his hands on his knees. After a visit from Roenicke, Izturis exited the game.

He was examined by a doctor at Chase Field and placed immediately on the DL. Izturis was unsure about the severity of the injury.

“It’s hard to tell,” he said. “Right now, I’m really sore. We’ll see [Saturday] how I feel.”

He is the sixth member of Milwaukee’s Opening Day roster to hit the DL in the first two months of the regular season.

“It’s unbelievable,” Izturis said.

Assistant general manager Gord Ash said the Brewers expected to get back a bit of Minor League shortstop depth on Saturday, when offseason acquisition Jeff Bianchi comes off the Triple-A DL. He is batting .346 in the Minors this season and had been sidelined by a forearm strain.

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The Brewers need a replacement beginning Tuesday for Marco Estrada, who strained his right hamstring in his last start and was placed on the disabled list. Among the options are reliever Manny Parra, a former starting pitcher, or a call-up from a list of candidates that includes Triple-A right-handers Wily Peralta and Mike Fiers, and, yes, Thornburg, a 23-year-old who would have to jump two levels.

“I don’t think that’s at the higher end of the probabilities,” Ash said. “You also have a roster to manage.”

And the Brewers’ 40-man roster is “more than full,” Ash said. It’s at capacity, and the Brewers also have three players on the 60-day DL.

Manager Ron Roenicke said the team would announce its intentions in the next couple of days, though it could go all the way to Tuesday, when the Brewers play the second of four games at Dodger Stadium.

He alluded to a desire to leave Parra in the bullpen, where the left-hander has a 3.70 ERA in 19 appearances this season, with 25 strikeouts versus nine walks.

“I really like what he’s doing in the bullpen right now,” Roenicke said. “Even if we have someone else start it and we have [Parra] piggyback, I would probably feel better about it, just because I know what he’s doing for us so far.”

That would seem to put Fiers and Peralta at the front of the line.

“They’ve had flashes of brilliance,” Ash said. “It’s just been rare that it’s innings one through seven or eight, clean. There’s always some hiccup.”

Fiers provided an example Thursday night, allowing four first-inning runs on three hits including back-to-back homers, then retiring 19 of the final 20 batters he faced. He is 1-3 with a 4.55 ERA and a team-best 49 strikeouts in 10 starts, and is already in line to start Tuesday.

Peralta, the Brewers’ consensus top prospect entering the season, is 1-5 with a 5.63 ERA in nine inconsistent starts. He is currently scheduled to pitch Sunday.

Also at Nashville is right-hander Mark Rogers, who is 0-2 with a 5.29 ERA in seven starts. He is also on the 40-man roster.

Down at Double-A, Thornburg is 6-0 with a 2.28 ERA in 10 starts, with 59 strikeouts and 20 walks in 59 1/3 innings.

“His name has definitely come up,” Roenicke said. “I talked to Rick [Kranitz, Milwaukee's pitching coach] today about him a little bit. If [Thornburg] had been with us in Spring Training and been lights out in Spring Training, it makes you feel a little bit better. When he pitched, he was a little nervous, which they should be. Those first times, these guys want to show us something. Nerves play into it a lot.”

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“I was [surprised] by it,” Ransom said. “It was what it was, and I move on. I didn’t see it.”

The D-backs designated Ransom for assignment on Monday and the Brewers claimed him off waivers on Wednesday, making for some convenient travel. Ransom grew up in nearby Chandler, Ariz. and still lives in the Phoenix area, so he’d been at home with his wife and two children.

“It’s been pretty relaxing,” he said. “I’ve been at the house. I haven’t done anything since Sunday.”

Of being picked-up by the Brewers, Ransom said. “Good. I’ve got a job. At that point, I was excited to be going somewhere, to be staying in the big leagues and not going back to Triple-A somewhere. We’ll see how it goes.”

The Brewers optioned Edwin Maysonet back to Triple-A Nashville to clear space for Ransom, so he becomes the backup shortstop. It’s Ransom’s primary position, the one he’s appeared at most as a Major Leaguer. But his primary role in the big leagues has been as a utility man, appearing at all four infield positions plus one game in left field for the Giants in 2004.

“I’m very comfortable [at shortstop],” Ransom said.

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Mike McClendon will be recalled from Triple-A Nashville for Friday’s game against the D-backs, and the Brewers will need to name a starter for Estrada’s next turn.

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“I know we played bad last year early on, but I don’t remember it ever being like this,” Hart said. “It’s a struggle. When you think you hit rock bottom, there’s worse.”

The new rock bottom was a 5-4, 11-inning loss to the Twins, who entered the weekend with baseball’s worst record but will go for a three-game sweep of the Brewers on Sunday. The Brewers have lost four games in a row to Houston and Minnesota. They are a season-worst eight-games under .500.

Aramis Ramirez gave the home team hope Saturday with a tying, two-out, two-run home run in the eighth inning, but the Twins won in the 11th with late-game sub Trevor Plouffe homered off Brewers reliever Manny Parra.

“We’re trying to stay positive as much as we can and try to come out of it,” Hart said. “We still have a great club. We have plenty of good times ahead. We can get on a roll, it just ain’t there yet. We have a club that can go 20-5, but right now we’re worried about trying to win a series.”

That bid will have to begin on Monday against the Giants. On Sunday, the Brewers will try to avoid becoming the first team to be swept in a three-game series by the 14-26 Twins.

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