MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Sal Frelick was out of the lineup for a second straight night with a knee issue but believes he should be ready to play again later this week.
Frelick had left the Brewers’ 4-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday with discomfort in his left knee after hurting it while taking a swing. Frelick underwent an MRI that showed no major damage, and the 2024 NL Gold Glove right fielder said he felt much better when he woke up Tuesday.
“From what the trainers are saying, it seems like they’ll try to keep me out until the off day to get an extra day and be ready to go on Friday,” Frelick said before the Brewers’ 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday.
The Brewers complete a three-game series with the Astros on Wednesday afternoon before beginning a six-game trip Friday at Tampa Bay.
Frelick isn't the only Brewer dealing with an injury this week.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after Tuesday's game that catcher William Contreras was getting an X-ray on his finger. Murphy said the injury was affecting Contreras' swing.
“He's dealing with probably a fracture,” Murphy said. “He had it last year, too."
Frelick said he felt a grab behind his left knee after swinging the bat in the second inning of Sunday’s game. He briefly stayed in the game before getting removed in the fourth inning.
“My whole body rotated, but the spike on my toe staying in the dirt. My foot almost came out of my shoe,” he said. "I tried to play another inning, but my knee was blowing up on me. ... Based on my previous meniscus stuff, I think we dodged a bullet there."
The 2021 first-round draft pick said he underwent two meniscus surgeries on that knee while playing for Boston College, but he hadn’t had any other issues with it until Sunday.
Frelick said the MRI he underwent showed no tear but “just a ton of inflammation in there.” But he says he’s feeling better now.
“Yesterday I came in and was not too much better,” Frelick said. “This morning I woke up and it was like unbelievable.”
Frelick, 25, is batting .297 with a .381 on-base percentage, one homer, nine RBIs and seven steals in 35 games. That follows a 2024 season in which he hit .259 with a .320 on-base percentage, two homers, 32 RBIs and 18 steals in 145 games.
His absence has tested the depth of an outfield that already has Garrett Mitchell and Blake Perkins on the injured list. Mitchell last played April 25 as he deals with a left oblique strain. Perkins still hasn’t made his 2025 debut as he recovers from a fractured right shin.
Milwaukee's injuries have caused Jake Bauers, who primarily is a first baseman, to start at right field each of the last two nights. Bauers has responded by going 2 for 4 with an RBI in a 5-1 victory over the Astros on Monday and hitting a two-run homer Tuesday.
“I think I'm just grateful for any opportunity I get to play this game and play for the Brewers,” Bauers said. “I love being here, so anytime I can get on the field and just do my best to contribute and do my best to help the team get a win, that's kind of been my mentality throughout the course of the season so far.”
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St. Louis Cardinals catcher Pedro Pagés, right, looks on as Milwaukee Brewers' Sal Frelick scores behind him during the seventh inning of a baseball game Friday, April 25, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)
Milwaukee Brewers' Christian Yelich runs to score on an RBI single by Sal Frelick during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)
Milwaukee Brewers' Sal Frelick runs to first base on a single to shallow center field during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
The leaders of Denmark and Greenland insisted Monday that the United States won't take over Greenland and demanded respect for their territorial integrity after President Donald Trump announced the appointment of a special envoy to the semi-autonomous territory.
Trump's announcement on Sunday that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry would be the envoy prompted a new flare-up of tensions over Washington's interest in the vast territory of Denmark, a NATO ally. Denmark's foreign minister told Danish broadcasters that he would summon the U.S. ambassador to his ministry.
”We have said it before. Now, we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a joint statement. “They are fundamental principles. You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security.”
“Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and the U.S. shall not take over Greenland,” they added in the statement emailed by Frederiksen's office. "We expect respect for our joint territorial integrity.”
Trump called repeatedly during his presidential transition and the early months of his second term for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island. In March, Vice President JD Vance visited a remote U.S. military base in Greenland and accused Denmark of under-investing there.
The issue gradually drifted out of the headlines, but in August, Danish officials summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen following a report that at least three people with connections to Trump had carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.
“We need Greenland for national security,” Trump told reporters on Monday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, when asked about Landry's appointment. “And if you take a look at Greenland, you look up and down the coast you have Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.”
On Sunday, Trump announced Landry's appointment, saying on social media that “Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World.”
The U.S. president on Monday said Landry approached him about being appointing as an envoy.
“He’s a deal guy. He is a deal-maker type guy,” Trump said.
Landry wrote in a post on social media after Trump announced the appointment that “it’s an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S.” The governor will continue to serve in his elected position in Louisiana.
The Trump administration did not offer any warning ahead of the announcement, according to a Danish government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The official also said Danish officials had expected Trump to signal an aggressive approach to Greenland and the Arctic in the U.S. administration’s new national security strategy and were surprised when the document included no mention of either.
Deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly said Monday that Trump decided to create the special envoy role because the administration views Greenland as “a strategically important location in the Arctic for maintaining peace through strength.”
Danish broadcasters TV2 and DR reported that in comments from the Faroe Islands Monday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he would summon the U.S. ambassador in Copenhagen, Kenneth Howery, to his ministry.
Greenland's prime minister wrote in a separate statement that Greenland had again woken up to a new announcement from the U.S. president, and that “it may sound significant. But it changes nothing for us here at home.”
Nielsen noted that Greenland has its own democracy and said that “we are happy to cooperate with other countries, including the United States, but this must always take place with respect for us and for our values and wishes.”
Earlier this month, the Danish Defense Intelligence Service said in an annual report that the U.S. is using its economic power to “assert its will” and threaten military force against friend and foe alike.
Denmark is a member of the European Union as well as NATO.
The president of the EU's executive commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on social media that Arctic security is a “key priority” for the bloc and one on which it seeks to work with allies and partners. She also said that “territorial integrity and sovereignty are fundamental principles of international law.”
“We stand in full solidarity with Denmark and the people of Greenland,” she wrote.
Madhani reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.
President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry speaks to reporters at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen smile during their meeting at Marienborg in Kongens Lyngby, Denmark, on April 27, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
FILE - Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance tour the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP, File)
FILE - Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen speaks during a Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
