Woodruff slammed in Denver: 'It flies here'

Not even the indomitable Brandon Woodruff was immune to the Brewers’ trouble keeping the ball in the park with the bases loaded.

Woodruff, off to one of the best starts for a pitcher in franchise history, surrendered a grand slam for the first time in his career in the very first inning of the Brewers’ weeklong western road trip. It was the first of back-to-back Rockies home runs in Milwaukee’s 7-3 loss at Coors Field on Thursday.

This was not how the Brewers expected their trip to begin, not with their ace on the mound. Woodruff entered the night with the fourth-best ERA in baseball for a qualifier and the sixth-fewest home runs per nine innings, only to allow C.J. Cron’s opposite-field slam on a 97.7 mph fastball with two outs -- the sixth grand slam off a Brewers pitcher this season -- and Garrett Hampson’s solo shot four pitches later.

On a night the Brewers put the leadoff man on base in six innings but committed more errors (a season-high four) than they collected hits (three), and didn’t get their second knock until Luis Urías’ three-run double in the seventh, that was the ballgame.

“I didn't think it was a terrible pitch [to Cron] but credit to him, he got the ball in the air and it flies here,” Woodruff said. “Just some crazy, very crazy things here. The margin of error here is just so razor thin.”

It prompted a dive into the numbers:

• The Brewers pulled into a tie with the Washington Nationals for the most grand slams allowed in 2021, and, 69 games into the season, the club is already four shy of the dubious franchise record of 10 grand slams off Milwaukee pitchers in 2010. Brewers hitters have yet to hit one this year.

• In his 363 2/3 big-league innings coming into the game, Woodruff had never allowed five runs in an inning while he was on the mound. He was charged with five runs in an inning on only one previous occasion -- the third inning on Sept. 27, 2017 against the Reds, when Woodruff departed with the bases loaded and three runs across in the inning, then saw two of those runners score against relievers Wei-Chung Wang and Carlos Torres. That was Woodruff’s eighth career start.

• With one swing, Cron did more damage against Woodruff than any opposing team had done this season. In his first 13 starts before Thursday, Woodruff surrendered one or zero earned runs nine times. He surrendered two earned runs three times and a season-high three earned runs once, on Opening Day against the Twins.

• When Hampson's home run made it 5-0, Woodruff had surrendered at least five earned runs for only the sixth time in 76 regular-season starts. Two of those starts have come at Coors Field.

“The first inning is when you try to get to these starting pitchers. We've talked about that many, many times,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “When they haven't been out there for a number of days, that's when they're trying to get going. And they got to him in the first inning.”

It was so close to being a different kind of first inning. With a runner at first base and two outs, Trevor Story hit a bouncer over second base, where Brewers shortstop Willy Adames made a diving stop. But when he hit the edge of the outfield grass and his momentum stopped, it prevented Adames from flipping the baseball to Jace Peterson covering the bag for a chance at an inning-ending force. As the inning continued, Ryan McMahon walked to load the bases for Cron’s grand slam.

“When [Adames] got to it, I felt there was a chance,” Woodruff said. “It is just one of those plays that kind of happens and you have to move on, and they took advantage of it. That was pretty much the ballgame right there."

Credit Woodruff for stopping the damage after the first inning. He came back with an eight-pitch, 1-2-3 second inning and kept the Rockies off the scoreboard, allowing only one more hit through the fifth. When Cron had a chance for a second grand slam with one out and the bases loaded in the fifth, Woodruff induced an inning-ending double play.

That gave Brewers hitters a chance to get back into the game in a ballpark that has seen a wild comeback or two, but they were quiet until Colorado starter Germán Márquez left the game. Márquez has pitched well in most of his starts this season but gave up 12 hits and nine runs (eight earned) his last time out against the Reds. The Brewers managed no runs and one hit -- Christian Yelich’s infield single on a chopper to third base leading off the fourth -- in Márquez’s six innings of work.

“I think if I come out and really kind of just punch them in the mouth early on, I think that sets the table,” Woodruff said. “I just wasn't able to do it."