Brandon Woodruff has taken his game to a new level as Brewers' rotation sparkles
ATLANTA -- In a starting rotation that's been awfully good for the Milwaukee Brewers in the last couple weeks, Brandon Woodruff has elevated his performance to a whole different level.
The right-hander pitched the game of his life on Sunday afternoon, controlling a very good Atlanta Braves team for a career-high eight innings in what wound up being a 3-2, 10-inning Brewers victory at SunTrust Park.
Woodruff made two mistakes, allowing a leadoff homer to prodigy Ronald Acuña, Jr. and then a game-tying shot to all-star Freddie Freeman to start the seventh.
But other than that he was spot-on as he overpowered Atlanta with a healthy dose of a fastball that was still hitting 96 mph in the eighth to help Milwaukee conclude a very challenging 10-game road trip with a respectable .500 record.
"He’s been really good the last four times out, and today he took it to another level," said manager Craig Counsell. "Eight strong, strong innings.
"It was a great performance."
BOX SCORE: Brewers 3, Braves 2
Woodruff came into Sunday on personal six-game run in which he'd gone 5-0 with a 2.70 earned run average. But over his previous four starts as Counsell noted -- all of which he'd won -- he'd posted a 1.23 ERA.
Acuña's homer came six pitches into Woodruff's outing and sailed 450 feet out to left -- the second-longest by a player in SunTrust Park history. And it came on a changeup, of all pitches.
Dansby Swanson followed with a single, then from there Woodruff dialed in. He retired 17 of 18 hitters, allowing only a fourth-inning single to Freeman in that span as a fifth-inning Keston Hiura homer gave Woodruff a 2-1 lead.
Woodruff also hit 99 on the radar gun on a strikeout of Tyler Flowers in the second.
"He's been touching that the last couple starts," Counsell said. "Obviously he's feeling good. Today he was just attacking hitters with the fastball."
He took the lead into the seventh only to see Freeman win an eight-pitch battle by homering to center. Woodruff recovered by allowing only a single over his final two innings, finishing at 93 pitches and a very efficient eight innings.
"The hitter starts sending the message that your fastball’s good and they’re going to swing early," said Counsell. "We see that with Josh sometimes and we saw that with Woody today.
"Early swings obviously allowed him to be efficient. He’s gotten hurt a little bit with pitch counts on foul balls in the past couple starts, but today, no real extended at-bats and that kept him in good order."
Woodruff's previous career high was seven innings, which he'd done most recently on Sept. 17, 2017 against the Miami Marlins. He finished Sunday having allowed five hits while not walking a batter and striking out six.
Josh Hader wound up earning the win, as he pitched the final two innings with the Brewers taking the lead for good in the 10th on Ben Gamel's homer.
The outing ranked right up there with Freddy Peralta's eight-inning gem on April 3 at Cincinnati and Zach Davies's 7 2/3-inning turn against the New York Mets on May 12 (the day after an 18-inning game) among the team's best efforts by a starting pitcher this season.
"Other than the couple pitches that gave up the homers, I felt like I was in a good rhythm, attacking the hitters and coming at them," said Woodruff. "I was able to get some weak contact. That’s kind of what I’ve been looking for to this point.
"That’s the kind of outings I want to have. I want to go out there, I want to attack, I want to get the weak contact, I want to get through those innings and help save that bullpen.
"Today was a good day."
Woodruff is now 6-1 with a 3.51 ERA and has struck out a team-high 65 in 56 1/3 innings.
With both he and Davies (who ranks second in the majors with a 1.54 ERA), the Brewers have two starters now who are surging.Veteran Gio Gonzalez has also been solid since rejoining the staff, and Jhoulys Chacín figures to hit his stride at some point soon after an uneven start.
Then there's Chase Anderson, who's fared well in his three starts. And by the end of the week we should learn the plan for Jimmy Nelson, who's just about to the end of his arduous road back from the 2017 reconstruction of his right shoulder.
Just like that, things are looking up for a rotation that had everyone up in arms less than a month ago with all the inconsistency and shuffling.
Through their last 16 outings, Milwaukee starters have posted a collective 1.75 ERA while limiting opposing batters to a .228 average.
"We’ve been pitching well," said Counsell. "I think our starters have done a nice job for a good bit here. It felt like it kind of synced up here when Gio came here. That’s when it felt like it started happening.
"We’re on a pretty good run with our starters."
Added Woodruff: "We try to rally around each other. Honestly, we just try to get out there, get deep into games and try to save that bullpen. We don’t want ot wear those guys out in the middle of the summer."