SAN DIEGO -- Brandon Woodruff wondered whether it was cosmic payback. Perhaps making light of Chase Anderson's awkward Opening Day slide had been a bad idea.
Woodruff could laugh about it on Saturday, when he was bruised but otherwise fine after being struck by line drives from consecutive Padres batters in the seventh inning of Milwaukee's come-from-behind, 8-6 win over the Padres on Friday night at Petco Park.
Nobody in the clubhouse could remember seeing anything like it. A pitcher hit by a line drive, sure. A pitcher hit by multiple line drives, maybe. But line drives from consecutive batters, one off Woodruff's right triceps and the other his backside? No way.
"And they were both hit really hard," said first baseman Ryan Braun, who was perfectly positioned to field the second liner when it caromed right to him for the final out of the inning.
It was a stroke of good fortune, since the Padres had two runners aboard.
Still, "It was scary," Braun said.
"It's definitely never happened to me before, and they were barreled up," Woodruff said. "I think it was a little bit of karma for making fun of Chase on his slide [Thursday]. That's what I'm going to chalk it up to. The baseball gods got me back."
What did Woodruff say to Anderson that so offended the baseball gods?
"I just told him he wasn't athletic, that he needs to learn how to slide," Woodruff said, with Anderson standing at his side, monitoring the conversation. "I paid for it."
Woodruff said there was no question he would be able to stay in the game. Both line drives happened to get him in meaty spots.
He will be in a more familiar role later next week, when he joins the starting rotation on Friday against the Cubs at Miller Park. Woodruff, the Brewers' No. 3 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, and No. 97 overall, was available out of the bullpen in the opening series because the team needed only four starters for the first seven games.
"It's a different animal coming out of the bullpen," Woodruff said. "The adrenaline was running and I just left some fastballs up over the middle of the plate. I guess I have to learn how to harness that a little bit. But in a tight game, it was fun."
Wilkerson to open Minors season on DL
Aaron Wilkerson, the right-hander who started the Brewers' final game last season and was part of the rotation competition at the start of Spring Training, will begin the Minor League season on the disabled list after suffering a partial dislocation of his non-throwing shoulder while swinging a bat.
While the Brewers do not consider it a devastating injury, it is a temporary blow to the team's depth. Wilkerson, who remains on the 40-man roster and was to begin the season in Triple-A Colorado Springs' starting rotation, will be sidelined several weeks.
Flu bug bites Hader
Left-hander Josh Hader was back with the team Saturday after spending Friday's game in his hotel room because of an illness. Anderson endured something similar in the days before dealing six scoreless innings against the Padres on Opening Day.
"We're traveling with a party of 60 people now. There's a good chance somebody is under the weather," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "We avoided it in the spring for the most part, but you're going to lose guys once in a while to that stuff."