One bad pitch ruins Woodruff’s night
Brandon Woodruff ’s third start of 2020 happened to come on the threeyear anniversary of his major-league debut with the Milwaukee Brewers.
That initial performance — 61⁄3 shutout innings in a victory in Tampa — was much more memorable than the performance he turned in Tuesday in a 3-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Miller Park.
The right-hander pitched OK overall, but it was one bad pitch to Eloy Jiménez in the sixth inning that cost him dearly and colored his perception.
“I think I grew a lot as a pitcher last year going through the innings and getting the reps. But tonight was one of those games where it was tough to get through six innings,” Woodruff said. “And to me, feeling like I didn’t have my best stuff, that’s just leaning on some of that experience and getting through those innings and making a pitch when you have to.
“When you look at good pitchers, that’s what they do — they make a pitch when they really need to. For the most part I was able to do that. Definitely not happy about giving up the home run. There’s some stuff I’ve got to work on to get more consistent, and I’ll get that nailed down this week.”
Woodruff has had little to no wiggle room in each of his starts so far with the Brewers’ offense struggling badly.
He was solid in five innings on opening day at Wrigley Field, but the bats managed just three singles against Kyle Hendricks in a 3-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs.
Woodruff dominated in Pittsburgh last week, holding the Pirates to one infield single and a walk while striking out 10 over 61⁄3 innings, but only got two runs behind him in a 3-0 victory.
It was more of the same Tuesday until Ben Gamel’s two-run homer broke a scoreless tie in the fifth and gave Woodruff just a bit of breathing room — breathing room that he wound up giving right back in the sixth.
The frustration started with Woodruff’s former battery mate Yasmani Grandal, who won a nine-pitch battle with a leadoff single to center. Then came the uber-talented youngster Jiménez, who slugged a long home run out to center to knot the score at 2-2.
Woodruff buckled down from there, but the damage had been done. He stalked off the field after the third out with a scream of frustration, all the more audible with no fans in the stands.
“Just mad at the fact that it just took me until the later innings to get into my mechanics,” he said. “Or, honestly, after he hit the home run it kind of hit me back into reality like I need to get this going.
“It was, I felt like, two totally different guys from Pittsburgh to tonight. I just felt like I was maybe a little lethargic there at the beginning of the game with my mechanics and when I do that, that’s when I start missing some spots.
“But when I really get a good tempo and rhythm, that’s when I start making pitches and hitting spots. And that’s when I can start getting on a good roll. But tonight was just a battle.”
Woodruff was done after that inning, having allowed eight hits, the two runs and a walk with six strikeouts over a season-high 95 pitches. Devin Williams replaced him in the seventh and after a bad defensive play by shortstop Eric Sogard to start, surrendered the decisive RBI single to José Abreu with two outs.
“He got nicked by little cuts tonight, really,” manager Craig Counsell said of Woodruff, who is now 1-1 with a 2.08 earned run average and WHIP of 0.92 with 21 strikeouts over 171⁄3 innings.
“It forced him to work every inning by making big pitches. He was really good, still. He was efficient, despite those infield hits and despite having to make some big pitches. He pitched well. He really pitched well.
“He’s in a good place. He’s going to deliver every time out the way he’s throwing the ball.”
Woodruff, the Mississippi native, is as “aw shucks” as they come in professional baseball, so it wasn’t surprising to hear his reaction when asked if he was aware he’d finally broken through to the game’s highest level three years earlier.
“I woke up this morning and did not realize that today was the day three years ago that I debuted,” he said. “I think the first thing that popped into my mind was, ‘My wife is due one month from today,’ so I wasn’t really thinking about the debut.
“I think I’m more excited for that than anything.”
Woodruff and his wife, Jonie, are expecting a girl — the couple’s first child.