Milwaukee (AP) - Milwaukee winemaker catcher William Contreras is learning how to continue hitting a ball while dealing with a fracture in the left middle finger.

Contreras has been injured for most of the season, which has affected production of one of the highest catchers in the game. But he has made a turn lately.

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The two-time All-Star team scored 4 points and 4 points in doubles and beat the two-played RBI singles in the eighth inning of Monday's Milwaukee Brewery defeated the Baltimore Orioles 5-4. He has scored 9 points on the plate with 16 in the last five games.

"It was William Contreras who won the top five of the MVP votes last year," said Brewers manager Pat Murphy.

Contreras ranked fifth in the MVP vote after leading Milwaukee for the second consecutive NL Central Championship last year. Contreras understands what he means to the team, which helps explain why he continues to play every day even in the face of this injury.

"I work hard and can't miss a day," Contreras said. "I don't want to take two or three months off."

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Teammates thank Contreras for his ability to play pain. After playing 155 games last year, Contreras missed only three of the first 48 games of Milvon's base season this season. Even if he doesn't catch him, Contreras is usually the roster of designated hitters.

"It really shows his passion for himself, playing games, and how important he thinks he is to win and he wants to win and be a part of it," pitcher Quinn Priester said. "It's really easy to play and trust with someone like that."

The winemaker reconfigured Contreras to grab the gloves to help him avoid every foul trick he got when working behind the plate feeling so painful. Contreras continued to do a great job behind the plate as Statcast listed him as the NL's best catcher to throw out a potential base stealer.

His injury had a greater impact on his batting.

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Contreras lost 5-2 in Arizona on April 13, but he didn't attack again in depth in Tampa Bay's 4-2 victory until May 11. For those of you who have won Silver Slugger in each of the last two seasons, the NL’s top champion catcher hit the championship, which represents the one who won the Silver Slugger.

Last week, he looked more like his usual self.

The surge in Contreras began Wednesday when he scored three-pointers in four and scored four runs in Cleveland's 9-5 victory. This started five games, bringing his batting average to .224 to .258, his benchmark rate soared from .333 to .370, while his slip percentage increased from .322 to .371.

Although metrics show Contreras hasn't played as hard as he did in the previous season, he's clearly made progress in that. His four hits were out of the exit speed of more than 100 mph on Monday.

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"It's hard to hit the ball with your fingers because there are sometimes pain," Contreras said. "But I don't have to think too much about my fingers because I'm going to keep playing the rest of the season."

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