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Pittsburgh — Following their 9-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on Saturday, the Milwaukee Brewers placed Tyler Thornburg on the 15-day disabled list with right-elbow soreness.

Taking his place on the 25-man roster and in the bullpen will be Mike Fiers, who will be recalled from Class AAA Nashville and join the team for Sunday's series finale with the Pirates.

Thornburg is expected to be examined by team doctor William Raasch on Sunday in hopes of a more definitive diagnosis.

"Obviously, there's so many different things in there that it could be," said Thornburg, who was roughed up in Friday's 15-5 loss. "We're waiting to get it checked out to see if we can be a little more specific and go from there. We'll narrow it down."

With the high number of torn UCLs that have resulted in Tommy John surgeries this season, Thornburg was asked if that could be a possibility. He said he dealt with a partially torn UCL his freshman year in high school but rehabbed it and hasn't had any issues with it since.

"I think it's always a possibility," he said. "We've done tests and stuff, and of course it's only a manual test and it's not going to tell you everything, but it feels fine. We'll see for sure."

Thornburg made the team out of spring training as a long man out of the bullpen but quickly worked himself into late-inning situations.

From April 5-29, the right-hander put together a string of 13 consecutive scoreless appearances (132/3 innings) and retired 21 in a row over seven games from April 6-18, the longest such streak by a Brewers reliever since DerrickTurnbow (22 in 2005).

Thornburg said the elbow has began bothering him as the season has progressed. He goes on the DL with a 3-1 record in 27 appearances. His earned-run average rose from 2.83 to 4.25 after he surrendered five earned runs in the seventh inning of Friday's game.

"Yeah, it's been going on a good bit," he said. "It's just one of those things that was more annoying. Then it started to get a little bit worse and I let them know about it a couple of weeks ago. We've been trying to work on some stuff and it started to get a little bit better. Then it got into a situation where I don't know whether it was fatigued or what, but I couldn't really grip the ball well.

"Obviously, things have gotten progressively worse as far as my control. The bullpen needed it, so I was trying to fight through it, but as soon as I'm not helping the team and doing more damage than good, it's one of those things where (I had to shut it down).

"I thought it was inevitable. I'm hoping to take 15 days and be 100 percent back to where I was."

Fiers, meanwhile, has enjoyed a bounce-back season in Nashville, going 6-3 with a 2.53 ERA and 0.93 WHIP in 11 starts. He's registered 92 strikeouts while walking only nine.

"It's going to be a little different role for him, but I think him just getting back to the big leagues (is good)," said manager Ron Roenicke. "He's been in a role in the bullpen before, so we're hoping it's not too hard for him to flip back over."

Fiers was 1-4 with a 7.25 ERA in 11 appearances (three starts) for the Brewers in 2013 and is 10-14 with a 4.20 ERA in 36 appearances (25 starts) in his career over parts of three seasons.

Gorzelanny makes progress: The reports on Tom Gorzelanny's 34-pitch rehab start on Friday for Nashville were encouraging, according to Roenicke.

Most important was the fact that his velocity was back with consistency, which he hadn't demonstrated.

"It went real well. His first encouraging outing," Roenicke said. "Stuff was there and he felt good. Afterward he felt good. He pitches again Monday, and we're getting to the point where we need to make some decisions. But this has been the first good one he's had."

Gorzelanny is scheduled to throw 20 pitches out of the bullpen Monday, with the Brewers needing to make a decision on him no later than Thursday.

Numbers game: If Gorzelanny is deemed ready to be reinstated from the disabled list, the Brewers will find themselves in something of a tough spot.

With Will Smith and Zach Duke pitching well and rookie Rule 5 draftee Wei-Chung Wang needing to be kept on the 25-man roster, can four left-handed relievers work in a seven-man bullpen?

"I don't think it does in the long run unless your lefties are really dominating right-handers also," said Roenicke. "Smith has been able to do that. Duke has done it, but we would like Duke more in situations with left-handers."

Not helping matters has been the inconsistency of Brandon Kintzler, the setup man last year, the recent struggles of Thornburg or the injury to Jim Henderson.

"Some of the right-handers haven't pitched the way we thought they would with Henderson being out," Roenicke said. "He's one of the guys we counted on, so all of a sudden (Rob) Wooten's gone to a role that maybe Henderson would have been in.

"I like Wooten, he's done a great job. But I would love Wooten to be the guy we could maybe get a starter out of an inning with, maybe go another inning after that, and he's been put into a role that's a high-leverage role."

The view from above: Saturday marked the 60th consecutive day the Brewers have been atop the National League Central Division standings.

"I like the fact that we have faltered some and then bounced back and played pretty well," said Roenicke. "So I think that's probably the thing I think about more because I know we're so far away from the end of the season that, yeah, it's great to be where we are but how we're playing is more important to me because we've got so long to go.

"Like when we have a bad stretch, if I see us bounce right back it starts to make you feel better about the team and what's going to happen when you go through the tough times. This group, I think, will be able to handle it."