Fifth inning was a weird one for Woodruff
The fifth inning was a weird one Tuesday night at Miller Park.
But it worked out in the end for Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff, who took it and ran on his way to a 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that,” he said about the 9-2 fielder’s choice that confused even the home-plate umpire but cut down what would have been the tying run. “We may not ever see that again.”
The inning began ominously for Woodruff, who was greeted by a Freddy Galvis single and a Mark Payton double off the wall in center that went into the books as the leftfielder’s first majorleague hit.
Up next was Tucker Barnhart, who drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases and bring leadoff man Joey Votto to the plate.
In other words, Woodruff was in some serious trouble just three batters after the Brewers’ offense put up a three-spot to take the lead against tough right-hander Luis Castillo.
Votto, with two strikeouts already on his ledger, is off to a rough start to the season but still more than capable of doing some damage with runners on. He got ahead in the count, 2-0, then Woodruff battled back to 2-2 before getting Votto looking at a 96 mph, 3-2 fastball that appeared to be a tad inside.
Votto had already taken a step toward first base when he was rung up by Shane Livensparger, who then got an earful from Votto as he headed back to the dugout.
Up next was Brewer killer Nick Castellanos, who on the next pitch sent a sinking liner to right. Ben Gamel played the ball on a hop and immediately came up throwing home.
Galvis, meanwhile, took his initial steps back to third thinking the ball might be caught before turning around and heading home. Gamel’s throw was right on the money and catcher Omar Narváez made a stretch reminiscent of a first baseman to get the forceout.
Livensparger erroneously ruled Galvis safe on the slide, only to quickly reverse his call when manager Craig Counsell bounded out of the dugout to remind him of the force play.
“It was huge,” Woodruff said of the stretch.
“(Narváez) called a great game tonight and did a great job of kind of managing the game. And that play right there was big, because a lot of people were confused. The baserunners were confused, the umpire was confused on the play – he thought it wasn’t a forceout when he slid in. There was a lot of chaos going on there.
“Just a good, heads-up play to really stretch out, because it was close. That was big, and honestly that propelled me through the rest of that inning.”
With the extremely rare 9-2 fielder’s choice in the books and Brent Suter warming in the bullpen, that left Woodruff to dispatch another guy who’s hit the Brewers well, Jesse Winker.
The battle didn’t last long, as Winker popped out to Keston Hiura.
Crisis averted, Woodruff stalked off the mound while unleashing a few very audible exhortations.
“That whole inning when I got the bases loaded there I was just telling myself, ‘Just stay within yourself, make some pitches here and see what happens,’ ” Woodruff said. “But when that play happened, it took me right back to Minnesota with one out, bases loaded against (Nelson) Cruz and I got a double play.”