Brewers' opening-day bullpen takes shape as J.C. Mejía, Miguel Sánchez and Luis Perdomo are sent to the minors

PHOENIX – Barring any moves in the coming days – which certainly remains a possibility – the Milwaukee Brewers have their opening-day bullpen in place.

They whittled their group of relievers down to 10 on Monday by optioning right-handers J.C. Mejía and Miguel Sánchez to Class AAA Nashville and reassigning right-hander Luis Perdomo to minor-league camp.

Utility man Pablo Reyes was also optioned to Nashville.

With those moves, the Brewers' bullpen now looks like this: Josh Hader (closer), Devin Williams, Brad Boxberger, Aaron Ashby, Brent Suter, Jake Cousins, Trevor Gott, Jandel Gustave, José Ureña and Hoby Milner.

"We made a decision in our bullpen of who to start with," manager Craig Counsell said. "We've told the players that are staying and who will, frankly, be sent out that they're going to be here during the course of the season and there's going to be some times where they switch places.

"But we felt this was the group we wanted to start with."

Of Monday's moves, Perdomo's advisement would qualify as at least a minimal surprise after he led Milwaukee with a 2-0 record in five appearances (two starts).

Perdomo also logged a 1.23 earned run average and a WHIP of 0.55 in 7⅓ innings.

"We're going to see Luis Perdomo, and just kind of leave it at that," said Counsell. "He pitched very well and did everything we asked. He wasn't on the roster, but I think we'll see him."

Mejía, acquired from the Cleveland Indians in an offseason trade, wasn't particularly impressive with a 4.76 ERA, WHIP of 1.41 and five strikeouts in 5⅔ innings over six appearances.

Sánchez, on the other hand, was unscored upon and didn't allow a hit in his five outings, striking out six in six innings.

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Reyes, meanwhile, hit .294 with two runs batted in over eight games before leaving camp to tend to a family matter. He hadn't played since March 28.

With teams being allowed to carry two extra players through April, the Brewers more than likely will utilize a 10-man bullpen with their rotation still a start or so away from being fully stretched out, an issue caused by the delayed open of spring camps.

In its current construction, Milwaukee's relief corps will feature six right-handers (Williams, Boxberger, Cousins, Gott, Ureña and Gustave) and four left-handers (Hader, Ashby, Suter and Milner).

"Hoby being left-handed did help him," Counsell said of Milner.

Ashby was stretched out as a starter this spring, so he will be able to provide length if needed while Suter, Milner and Gott should be capable of pitching more than one inning as well.

Ureña, like Ashby, could serve as a swing man between the rotation and bullpen if needed. He just signed with the Brewers last week and pitched only once in the Cactus League, but touched 97 and 98 mph in his appearance.

"He threw 30 pitches, so we feel good about that," Counsell said. "I wasn't surprised (at the velocity). This guy's been in the big leagues for a while. This is a veteran pitcher. He's been around and he's had success."

Against the Colorado Rockies on Monday night in Scottsdale, the Brewers trotted out what will be very close to their opening-day lineup -- 2B Kolten Wong, SS Willy Adames, LF Christian Yelich, DH Andrew McCutchen, 1B Rowdy Tellez, RF Hunter Renfroe, C Omar Narváez, CF Tyrone Taylor and 3B Jace Peterson.

The lone change against the Cubs, Counsell said, will be Lorenzo Cain starting in center ahead of Taylor. Cain has slowly been tapering his action up so far in the spring but also played sparingly in games.

"These will be a lot of the guys we'll be relying on for our offense this year," Counsell said. "We're going to be taking advantage of our handedness to take advantage of teams later, and things like that."

Brewers 8, Rockies 7

Hunter Renfroe told Counsell before Monday night's game against the Colorado Rockies at Salt River Fields that he wanted to play all nine innings.

He did, and his presence in right field wound up saving a game finished up by almost exclusively players from the low levels of Milwaukee's minor-league system.

With one out and the Rockies having already scored once, Renfroe caught a line drive off the bat of Colton Welker and then made a perfect throw home to throw out a tagging baserunner to end the proceedings in style.

"It was a fun game," Counsell said. "Obviously, a cool way to end the game. Perfect throw. The young kids were awesome. They did great. They were so excited. They contributed and kind of led the comeback.

"So, it was cool."

Milwaukee rapped out 12 hits in all with Omar Narváez slugging his first homer of the spring in the sixth off former Brewer Jhoulys Chacín.

With the upper levels of their minor-league system having already departed Phoenix for the starts of their respective seasons, the Brewers have been forced the final few games to utilize young, untested players.

And in this one, they contributed to a victory.

Freddy Peralta made his final spring start, going 4 1/3 innings and allowing six hits, five runs and a walk with five strikeouts.

The Brewers conclude Cactus League play Tuesday with a 2:10 p.m. game against the Kansas City Royals at American Family Fields of Phoenix.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers send down relievers J.C. Mejía, Miguel Sánchez, Luis Perdomo