Brewers have Sabathia throw a 180-pitch side session Tuesday

MILWAUKEE — A “bored” Milwaukee Brewers team had ace pitcher CC Sabathia throw a 180-pitch side session Tuesday to help pass some time, a day before the team takes on the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Division Series.

Sabathia, who will pitch Thursday on three days’ rest for the third time in a row, has already thrown over 250 innings this season.

Follow SSNN on Twitter!

“It was a little weird,” Sabathia said. “Normally they have me throw a side session, but normally I haven’t been pitching every three days. Also, normally the side session is like 25 or 40 pitches, so 180 seemed like kind of a lot.”

Sabathia said he struggled a bit in the bullpen session, but he managed to get through it.

“After about 100 pitches, they asked me to throw 40 curveballs in a row,” Sabathia said. “So that was sort of tiring and a bit painful. Then, on the last 20 pitches, they made me wear a weighted vest. It’s really hard to pitch with an extra 80 pounds on your body after you’ve already thrown 160 pitches. But I sort of bowed my neck and got through it.”

“I just wanted to see if he could do it,” said interim manager Dale Sveum. “Guess what? He can. I mean, he was leaking some serious oil at the end, but he got there.”

Sveum said that, buoyed by the success of the 180-pitch bullpen session, they’re going to see if Sabathia can throw 200 pitches on Thursday night, after Sabathia pitches against the Phillies.

The Brewers didn’t offer a specific explanation for their request of Sabathia.

“That’s just what we do with all of our players,” said Sveum. “Why, just the other day, Ben Sheets threw an eight-pitch bullpen session. So, yeah, CC threw a few more pitches, but this is Ben Sheets we’re talking about here–we’ve got to be careful.”