The right-hander didn't arrive in Milwaukee until 3:30 a.m. Saturday, his luggage didn't make it in time, and he then endured a tough first inning.
Aaron Wilkerson's return to the Milwaukee Brewers certainly didn't turn out the way he'd envisioned it.
He was informed Thursday he would be starting Saturday afternoon's game against the Atlanta Braves. But after his connecting flight from Colorado Springs to Denver was delayed, the scrambling began.
Wilkerson instead had to fly through Houston to get to Chicago rather than Milwaukee, and by the time he finally arrived it was 3:30 a.m. Saturday – and he was without his luggage, which was somehow misrouted along the way.
So when he finally took to the mound at Miller Park, he was wearing cleats given to him by equipment manager Jason Shawger and using one of Freddy Peralta's gloves.
Not exactly the way a starting pitcher – a position normally defined by routine and preparation – wants to start his day.
"There's a little bit of discomfort, but at the end of the day it's the same game, the same mechanics and everything."
Wilkerson did his best to put the distractions to the side and pitch, and for the most part he fared well. But for the second time in as many outings with the Brewers this season he struggled in his initial inning of work, and it paved the way for a 5-1 loss.
It was a five-batter stretch in the first that did him in, and began with a play that Wilkerson probably should have made.
With one out, the speedy Ozzie Albies hit a ground ball to the right side that Jesús Aguilar fielded. Wilkerson got to the base and took the throw, getting the out call from umpire Quinn Wolcott, but a Braves challenge quickly overturned it and left Albies safe.
Freddie Freeman followed with a single and Wilkerson walked Nick Markakis to load the bases for Johan Camargo, who then singled to left to put Wilkerson into a quick 2-0 hole.
Wilkerson walked Charlie Culberson, who was up next, before getting a strikeout and a flyout to end the frame.
Last Sunday in Cincinnati a similar scenario played out as Wilkerson made his 2018 Brewers debut coming out of a nearly hour-long rain delay.
Taking over in the sixth with the Brewers trailing, 3-0, six consecutive batters reached against Wilkerson, who eventually surrendered a grand slam that broke the game open for the Reds.
"I guess it's just kind of dumb luck," said Wilkerson, who experienced more of that first-hand in early April when he partially dislocated his non-throwing shoulder while swinging a bat, an injury that sidelined him for more than a month.
"First inning in my first outing in Cincinnati it was the same thing – the ball just found some grass. I bounced back, calmed down a little bit and made the pitches I needed to that helped out a lot."
Beginning with those final two outs in the first against the Braves, Wilkerson recovered to retire 14 of the final 16 batters he faced, including the final nine.
It was still, 2-0, when he handed the ball off to Taylor Williams in the sixth. But with the way Anibal Sánchez was pitching, there was very little margin for error.
"He gave up three ground balls that first inning," manager Craig Counsell said of Wilkerson, who's now 0-1 with a 7.88 earned run average after his two appearances for the Brewers.
"Albies beats out an infield hit then it was two ground ball hits. He pitched well. He did his job, for sure.
"Five good innings. He kept us in the game. That play Albies beats out, it's a different inning if he starts with two out and nobody on. He did a nice job. He had to work hard to get through that first inning but he got pretty locked in after that."
The 29-year-old Wilkerson got the call to Milwaukee when Brent Suter was placed on the disabled list somewhat unexpectedly on Friday with a left forearm strain. He was 2-2 with a 2.08 ERA in eight games (seven starts) with the Sky Sox.
With Wade Miley nearing the end of his stay on the 60-day disabled list, Brandon Woodruff also pitching well at Colorado Springs and other possible unforeseen moves, Wilkerson was well aware after Saturday's game he could soon be looking at another episode of "Planes, Trains and Automobiles."
But it's nothing unlike what Woodruff and Jorge López have gone through already this season, and what Suter endured last season, so Wilkerson said he's ready for whatever comes his way next.
"I'm always available," quipped Wilkerson, who made his major-league debut with the Brewers last September. "You've got to be ready whenever your number's called. It gets tough at times, traveling back and forth, back and forth, and not really knowing.
"It kind of hinders your routine a little bit. But this game's crazy, and you've got to adjust to the game."
Wilkerson's luggage finally arrived at Miller Park in the third inning, by the way. But he chose to stick with Peralta's glove for the duration of his start.
"I could have used my glove halfway through, but I didn't want to change," he said.