Woodruff throws 7-inning CG gem in Game 1

MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers can’t afford to let games get away when Brandon Woodruff is on the mound, and they certainly can’t afford to give them away.

Woodruff worked all seven innings for the Brewers’ first complete game since Jimmy Nelson went all nine on Father’s Day in 2017, but a pair of defensive lapses allowed the go-ahead run to score in a 4-2 loss to the Cardinals in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Wednesday, ensuring Milwaukee would remain in fourth place in the National League Central regardless of the outcome of Game 2.

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Fortunately for Woodruff’s frame of mind, the Brewers came back to win Game 2, 6-0, with a two-hit shutout in a bullpen game that he helped set up by covering the entirety of the opener.

“That was a huge win,” Woodruff after the nightcap. “The challenge in the second game was not coming out too flat. I think we did an awesome job of coming out and throwing the first punch. That’s a great win. Going into the off-day [Thursday], I feel like we’re set up pretty good for these next three games, then we hit the road. We’ll try to keep it going and make a good little run.”

In the opener, Keston Hiura hit a two-run home run off Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright for a rare productive first inning for the Brewers -- their second in a row. Woodruff saw the lead slip away while the team fell to 5-6 with their Opening Day starter on the mound this season. Last year, the Brewers were 18-4 behind Woodruff, when he emerged as a top-of-the-rotation arm and made the NL All-Star team.

The right-hander surrendered a run apiece in the second on Tyler O’Neill’s home run and the fourth on O’Neill’s sacrifice fly for a 2-2 tie before the Cardinals pushed ahead in the fifth thanks to some sloppy Brewers defense. Harrison Bader led off with a grounder to third base, where Jace Peterson opted against setting his feet to throw and instead fired on the run, airing the throw way over first base for an error. When Yadier Molina followed with a ground ball to Peterson, the throw to first base was on target and Bader broke for third. The Brewers may have had a chance to throw him out, but first baseman Jedd Gyorko bobbled the transfer. Tommy Edman cashed in with a go-ahead double, and the Cardinals never looked back.

By the metrics, the Brewers are a middle of the pack defensive team. They entered Wednesday 12th of 30 teams in defensive runs above average, and 18th in defensive runs saved. But at least they could say they didn’t commit many errors. Before an ugly showing on Sunday against the Cubs in which the Brewers committed three errors while getting no-hit, they had the fewest errors in the NL.

After striking out 12 Cubs and allowing only one hit in seven scoreless innings five days earlier, Woodruff was charged with four runs (three earned) on seven hits, including home runs by O’Neill and Brad Miller. Woodruff didn’t walk a batter and struck out five.

This year, he is 2-4 with a 3.45 ERA and two regular-season starts remaining.

“I wasn’t as sharp as I was last week but that’s part of it,” Woodruff said. “The fact I was able to go deep in the game and help save that bullpen, I think was huge. If I could have a couple pitches back, it would be a different story. That’s how it goes sometimes.”

His next outing, in Cincinnati against a Reds team that is ahead of the Brewers in the standings as of Wednesday night, will be scheduled for the full nine innings.

“Hopefully, we’ll have more [complete games] to come in the future,” Woodruff said. “You look at a lot of big leaguers who’ve been in the game a long time, and they're hard to come by. Hopefully, as a pitching staff, we can get some more in the future. But they’re not easy to do, especially with bullpens these days. They go right to them early.”