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.
By the time his teammates finished a blowout victory highlighted by catcher William Contreras’ four hits and four RBIs, and rookie left-hander Shane Drohan’s first Major League victory after four good innings of emergency relief, Woodruff had already undergone an MRI scan.
The Brewers are collectively holding their breath for the results, considering how far the 33-year-old’s fastball plummeted. 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 doesn’t feel like he’s injured,” said manager Pat Murphy. “He said, ‘My arm’s dead. Nothing’s coming out.’ I think we just have to be really cautious here.”
To that end, a stint on the injured list was already “in the conversation,” according to Murphy. But no final decision had been made as of Thursday afternoon.
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. Still, the club opted to extend Woodruff a $22.025 million qualifying offer -- and he accepted, marking the highest single-season salary for a pitcher in franchise history. Given all of those factors, the Brewers have been on alert each time he pitches this season.
On Thursday, alarm bells were going off beginning with Woodruff’s warmup.
“I think I had a feeling there in the bullpen,” Contreras said. “Usually, whenever he says he’s got two more, he’ll let it eat a little bit more. On those two, there was something a little bit down.”
Still, the duo pressed forward.
“A ton of respect for him going out there and never backing down,” Contreras said. “I think it’s a great learning lesson for the younger guys in the room to never back down. Just go out there and compete and be ready for the moment.”
Woodruff’s first pitch of the game was a four-seamer at 84.2 mph, and it didn’t improve as he tried to settle into his outing. He 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 while retiring a batter and surrendered a single to start the frame.
In hindsight, the first signs that something was amiss may have appeared in Woodruff’s previous outing against the Pirates, when 59 of his 71 pitches were varieties of fastballs. His four-seamer averaged 92.9 mph -- which was actually up a tick -- but he was part of the decision to come out of the game after only five innings, according to Murphy.
So, when his velo dipped so severely in the first inning on Thursday, why did the Brewers even send Woodruff out for the second?
“We’ve seen it where his velocity is down early and then it climbs,” Murphy said. “We were waiting to see in the second inning if it would climb. … After the first inning, we said, ‘Hey, man, what do you got?’ He said, ‘Well, let me go back and see if I can get a little bit extra.”
After two batters, Brewers head athletic trainer Brad Epstein approached the mound with Murphy and pitching coach Chris Hook to make an emergency pitching change.
“When they came to get him, it's a part of the game we all hate,” said D-backs manager Torey Lovullo. “It doesn't matter what uniform we're in and who's across the field. When somebody has to walk off the field that way, that's tough to watch.”
Grant Anderson cleaned up the second inning before Drohan took over and delivered four innings on one day of rest. And 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.
Contreras had four RBIs and was a triple shy of the cycle by the fourth inning on the way to reaching safely five times, which was particularly impressive considering he caught all six games on the homestand. 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.
“Some good things happened today,” Murphy said.
Unfortunately, so did a bad thing.
The Brewers were holding out hope for good news.
“We think maybe with some rest, he can build back up,” Murphy said. “People go through stuff like this.”
He paused.
“Hopefully,” Murphy added, rapping his knuckles on the a wooden table, “he’s solid and there’s no injury there. That would be awful.”