Brewers manager: Braun dealing with combination of right thumb, hand injury

The pain that Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun has been dealing with in his right thumb apparently encompasses his entire hand. 

"He's got a little hand thing," manager Ron Roenicke told Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel. "I don't know if it's just the thumb. He's been battling that. That's part of the reason, I'm sure, that he hasn't been swinging the bat like he has (in the past). It's been going on for over a week now.

"There's definitely some physical issues there and there's definitely some mental issues there. A lot of times that physical part, because you know you can't do things the same way, now mentally you know you can't and you try to alter things and it usually doesn't go well."

Braun, who was held out of the lineup Tuesday, has been dealing with lingering pain in his right thumb for more than a month and has tried to wear various types of padding on his hand with limited results.

Though his body of work over the season has been solid - hitting .273/.323/.471 with 18 home runs and 78 RBI - the five-time All-Star is just 7-for-40 with one home run over his last 11 games. 

Roenicke admitted that Braun's hand is bothering him more of late, but would use him as a pinch-hitter on Tuesday and remained in right field.