Brewers catcher Stephen Vogt will be out at least a month with a left knee sprain that resulted from a brutal collision at home plate in last night’s game against the Pirates.

Manager Craig Counsell made the announcement Tuesday, and Vogt was officially placed on the 10-day disabled list with a sprained MCL after Pittsburgh pitcher Chad Kuhl ran into him at the plate. Kuhl was called out at home because Vogt made the tag and held onto the ball, not because umpire Mark Wegner deemed the Pirates baserunner to be in violation of the rules.

Vogt was clearly shaken up on the play, staying down on the ground for a few minutes and being evaluated by medical staff, but he was able to remain in the game, which Pittsburgh won, 4-2.

Here's the Vogt collision play (via @watchstadium): pic.twitter.com/hR1KPrnNSH — The Brewer Nation (@BrewerNation) July 18, 2017

In 2014, Major League Baseball changed its rules in an effort to increase player safety by eliminating what it called "egregious" collisions at home plate. Basically, runners could no longer slam into catchers at home, unless the catcher had the ball already in his possession and was blocking the plate. Monday’s collision was a bang-bang play that would have been difficult to arbitrate – involving a pitcher unaccustomed to running the bases and a catcher who had received Domingo Santana’s perfect throw only a split-second before the impact – but it didn’t need to be reviewed because Kuhl was called out.

The collision was a tough blow not only for Vogt and the Brewers – the 32-year-old catcher has four home runs in 32 plate appearances and a team-high .992 OPS since being claimed off waivers by Milwaukee three weeks ago, so the Brewers are losing a valuable veteran and run producer at a time when they’re trying to stay in first place – but it’s also bad news for MLB.

The league’s implementation of the 2014 rule demonstrated that it was taking home plate collisions seriously, and was an admirable move for a sometimes-overly traditionalist sport that still romanticizes reckless hustle at the expense of player safety (think Pete Rose running over Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star Game).

Collisions at home plate have become far less frequent – though Brewers minor-league catcher Rene Garcia was stretchered off the field and taken to the hospital after suffering knee, head and neck injuries on a play in the final spring training game earlier this season; coincidentally, Santana, Milwaukee’s right fielder, made the throw on that one too – since they were made illegal three years ago. Buster Posey, the Giants’ star catcher who endured a season-ending fractured fibula and torn ankle ligaments in 2011 on a collision at the plate, is largely considered to have been the catalyst.

It’s hard to blame Kuhl, an inexperienced runner who efforted to check on Vogt after the game, and it’s impossible to say Vogt did anything wrong – catchers are taught to block home on plays at the plate, and Vogt was actually positioned above the plate and out of the baseline, in order to make a sweep tag. But it was an ugly incident for the league, which has to deal with the bad optics and public clamors of more changes needed, and it robs a contending team of an increasingly important player – at a crucial position and during a playoff race.

The Brewers will now have to rely more heavily on catcher Manny Pina, a 30-year-old who’s having his best season, batting .291 with six homers and 29 RBI and with the fourth-highest SABR Defensive Index among major-league catchers. On Tuesday, corresponding to the move placing Vogt on the DL, Milwaukee called up catcher Jett Bandy from Triple-A Colorado Springs.

C Stephen Vogt (left knee sprain) has been placed on the 10-day disabled list. RHP Junior Guerra reinstated from the DL and starts tonight. — Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 18, 2017

Also on Tuesday, the Brewers reinstated pitcher Junior Guerra, the team’s Opening Day starter, from the disabled list (shin injury), recalled reliever Michael Blazek from Colorado Springs and optioned reliever Tyler Webb and infielder Yadiel Rivera to the Sky Sox.

The Brewers, who have lost two games in a row for the first time since June 27-28, have three more contests at Pittsburgh, then six games on the road at Philadelphia and Washington, before returning home on July 28 to host the Chicago Cubs.