Finally healthy for October, Woodruff ready to 'make a run at this thing'

MILWAUKEE -- Longtime Brewers ace Brandon Woodruff is proof that, yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks.

The 32-year-old has been a different pitcher in the wake of his multiyear comeback from right shoulder surgery, and he was never more different than Wednesday night. Woodruff, who built his reputation with what manager Pat Murphy called an “angry” four-seam fastball, instead filled the strike zone with cutters for five sharp innings of the Brewers’ 9-2 win over the Angels at American Family Field.

Sal Frelick’s three-run home run punctuated a five-run second inning that saw Angels starter José Soriano forced from the game by a comebacker that struck his right forearm, Blake Perkins tied his career high with five RBIs and the Brewers (93-59) remained five games ahead of the Cubs (88-64) in the NL Central standings with 10 games to play. That was thanks to a four-hit pitching performance led by Woodruff, who struck out nine and allowed only one run while working for the first time in 11 days after his previous start was bumped back in the interest of extra rest.

“All of this is new territory for me. I’m learning so much in between [starts],” Woodruff said. “I’m trying to do my best to take care of my body, and now that we’re in the playoffs for sure, I want to win tonight, but I have to be conscious -- I want to pitch deep into October and make a run at this thing.”

Woodruff says he always prided himself on being a pitcher ahead of a thrower, he just happened to be blessed with a 97-99 mph fastball.

Now that he has a reconstructed shoulder, it’s like learning to pitch all over again.

“I’ll tell you what, honestly, when I throw 91-92 [mph], in my mind it’s 98,” Woodruff said. “Rehab taught me so much. I knew this year was probably going to be like this, so I had a good understanding that Step 1 was trying to feel good and post every time out. Once I got to a spot where I could feel good, then it was trying to clean everything up and whatever stuff I had, I had. Just learn to pitch with it.”

What he had on Wednesday was an 88 mph sinker for an opening pitch, down from his season average of 92.9 mph. His first four-seam fastball was 90.3 mph, down from a season average of 93.1 mph. And yet Woodruff carved through five good innings by throwing strikes -- nine of the 18 hitters he faced found themselves in an 0-2 count -- along with a slew of cutters, a pitch Woodruff didn’t even possess before this season. Against the Angels, he threw cutters for 31 of his 69 pitches, inducing 16 swings and eight whiffs, helping to set up Woodruff’s nine strikeouts.

That wasn’t the game plan, Woodruff said. Rather, it was reacting to what was working.

“I can get carried away when I get excited, but it reminded me of [Clayton] Kershaw, you know what I mean?” Murphy said. “He’s just pitching, he keeps going, and how’s he doing it? Woody has a lot more in the tank, I’m sure, but we just need to appreciate what this guy does.”

Woodruff surrendered only two hits -- the first of Angels left fielder Taylor Ward’s two solo home runs represented the only run against him -- and emerged with a 3.20 ERA through the first 12 starts of his comeback from an injury suffered in September 2023, right when the Brewers were on the cusp of the postseason.

Two years later, Woodruff is poised to play an October role again. The rotation can always change as the Brewers set things up for what probably will be a best-of-five NL Division Series, but at the moment, Milwaukee has Freddy Peralta, Woodruff and Quinn Priester lined up in that order.

“Today was a big outing for me in terms of getting the body back acclimated,” Woodruff said. “It’s been roughly 10 days and it was huge for me to get back out there.”

He attributed the diminished velocity to his delivery being “out of whack,” which was probably a result of his longer layoff between starts.

“I’m not concerned about that. Roughly from the second inning on, it was pretty much where it’s been all year,” Woodruff said. “What’s important is I’m able to mix it up, I’m able to move the ball around, keep guys off-balance and pitch that way. That’s the way I’ve had to do it all year. There have been flashes here and there of 95s and 96s, but I don’t have to go into an outing leaning on that. That’s a good feeling.”

He’ll try to carry that feeling into October. No matter what the radar gun says.

“Who knows?” Woodruff said. “Maybe the playoffs will help that out a little bit.”