Woodruff exits early after significantly reduced velo in rout vs. D-backs

MILWAUKEE -- Brandon Woodruff showed no outward signs of discomfort. But the radar gun indicated that something was wrong.

The Brewers spent the early innings of Thursday’s 13-1 win over the D-backs in scramble mode after Woodruff, the veteran right-hander with a long injury history, exited after facing six hitters with significantly diminished velocity on his fastball.

How diminished? Woodruff, who flirted with triple digits prior to his 2023 right shoulder surgery, had averaged a respectable 92.5 mph on four-seam fastballs in his first five starts of 2026. On Thursday, his 10 four-seamers averaged 85.4 mph and maxed out at 86.9 mph.

“He wasn’t himself,” manager Pat Murphy told Brewers.TV reporter Sophia Minnaert during the third inning. “He said he felt kind of ‘dead.’ He didn’t feel any pain, just that nothing was coming out. We’ve seen a little of this, but not at this level where he can’t get the ball over 85 mph.

“So, he’s so important to us, we’re not going to risk anything long term by having him try to step on it. He’s going through this process, and hopefully he’ll be OK and will work himself into his form. Even with him not throwing his normal 95, he still can get outs and win. As long as he doesn’t risk injury, I’ll go with him every time.”

While Woodruff received attention in the clubhouse, Brewers hitters stepped up by collecting more hits off D-backs starter Michael Soroka (10) than the veteran right-hander recorded outs (nine) before he was knocked out of the game. William Contreras had four RBIs and was a triple shy of the cycle by the fourth inning on the way to a four-hit afternoon, and when Sal Frelick went deep in the seventh, the Brewers had their first multi-homer game since April 14 -- ending a stretch of 13 games hitting one or no home runs as a team.

It marked the second time in the series that the Brewers scored double-digit runs, and the second time they took some late-inning hacks against eephus-throwing D-backs catcher James McCann.

That was good for some laughs, but the start of the day was no laughing matter. Woodruff underwent shoulder surgery in October 2023 that sidelined him for all of 2024 and part of a ‘25 season that was cut short by a new injury concern, a right lat strain. Given all of that, the Brewers have been on alert each time he pitches this season, and the alarm bells were going off from the very first batter on Thursday.

He’d pitched almost exclusively with fastballs in his previous start against the Pirates, when 59 of Woodruff’s 71 pitches were varieties of fastballs, and his four-seamer averaged 92.9 mph. But his first pitch on Thursday afternoon was a four-seamer at 84.2 mph, and it didn’t improve as he tried to settle into his outing. Woodruff worked around a leadoff walk with a pair of strikeouts in a scoreless first inning, then didn’t touch 85 mph with any of his pitches in the second inning while retiring a batter and surrendered a single to start the frame.

At that point, Brewers head athletic trainer Brad Epstein approached the mound with Murphy and pitching coach Chris Hook to make an emergency pitching change.

Grant Anderson cleaned up the second inning before left-hander Shane Drohan took over and delivered four more good innings on one day of rest to earn his first Major League win.