Veteran right-hander Jeff Suppan bounced around between a few different minor league systems in 2011 and had surrendered nine runs (on 17 hits) in 6 2/3 innings through his first two starts this season at Triple-A Tuscon. So it was a shock when the Padres announced Tuesday that they were calling him up for a spot Wednesday night against the Brewers.
But it went about as smoothly as possible.
Suppan tossed five scoreless innings, yielding only four hits to a Milwaukee lineup that included Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks, Aramis Ramirez and Corey Hart.
The bullpen carried the torch for the final four frames as the Friars rolled to a 5-0 victory.
With Cory Luebke now on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to April 28) with elbow discomfort, Suppan may have earned himself another outing. Dan Hayes of the North County Times says the 37-year-old was regularly hitting 87 mph with his fastball, which is exactly his average from the 2010 season.
