Brandon Woodruff needed a month on the injured list to shake off a sprained ankle but he returned to the mound Tuesday night in top form as the Milwaukee Brewers opened a road trip with a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
Woodruff, on a pitch count, worked five innings, allowing just a run on two hits without walking a batter while striking out 10. Randy Arozarena delivered an RBI single in the 4th and Woodruff departed trailing 1-0. Shane Baz dazzled Milwaukee hitters for five scoreless innings before running into trouble in the 6th. He gave way to reliever Matt Wilser and the Brewer bats came alive. Andrew McCutcheon hit a two run homer for the lead and Luis Urias made it a 4 run inning with a two run blast of his own. Uris would add an RBI double in the top of the 8th to make it 5-1.
Jason Alexander made five starts while Woodruff (and Freddy Peralta) were on the IL and he was back in the bullpen. He came on for the 8th but promptly walked his first two batters. After a passed ball moved both into scoring position, Tampa got a sacrifice fly and a ground out to score two and tighten the game to 5-3. Devin Williams got the final out in the 8th and Josh Hader mowed down all three batters he faced, striking out the side for his 23rd save.
The Brewers maintained their half game lead on St. Louis, a 5-3 winner themselves over the Miami Marlins. Now 43-33, Milwaukee will send Eric Lauer to the hill to close out the two game series. Pre-game coverage begins Wednesday morning at 10:30 AM with an 11:10 AM first pitch on WNFL.
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