Woodruff (11 K's) back in a big way: 'Best time of year'

MILWAUKEE -- Brandon Woodruff and Rowdy Tellez offered Brewers fans a reminder of what they’ve been missing -- and what this team can do when it’s healthy.

Woodruff delivered the first double-digit strikeout performance of his injury-interrupted season and Tellez homered for the first time in more than three months during a 7-3 victory over the Padres on Friday night at American Family Field.

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“I missed four months, but now I’m back in the midst of the best baseball you can play,” said Woodruff after logging the first 11 of the Brewers’ 17 strikeouts. “I missed so much time that I’m not exactly focused on results. I’m just focused on trying to help the team win. If I can do that, then everything else falls in line.

“It’s the best time of year. I feel like I say it every year, but it really is. Guys start pulling together, and it’s fun when you’re winning.”

A sixth straight victory pushed the Brewers 14 games over .500 (71-57) for the first time since May 2022. With a Cubs loss, Milwaukee moved a season-high four games ahead of second-place Chicago in the NL Central standings with a crucial series between the teams coming next week. The Reds also lost Friday and sit five games back.

Woodruff will ride some momentum into his scheduled start in the finale of the Cubs series after holding San Diego to Manny Machado’s solo home run plus two other harmless hits over six innings, with three walks. It was Woodruff’s fourth start since he returned from a four-month absence with a strained muscle behind his right shoulder, and it was his best outing to date, spanning a season-high 107 pitches.

Sixteen of those pitches came in one marathon at-bat leading off the third inning. Former teammate Trent Grisham fouled off 10 two-strike pitches before he finally fanned at a Woodruff change-up, ending the longest at-bat in 23 seasons in this ballpark. Twice before, a pitcher and hitter had battled for 15 pitches, including Woodruff against the Cubs’ Jon Jay in September 2017, when Woodruff was a rookie.

Jay won that marathon with a single.

This time, Woodruff triumphed over Grisham.

“I get real hard-headed and I only want to throw fastballs, but at some point in the back of my mind I was like, ‘I’m going to have to throw something else besides that because he’s not missing it,’” Woodruff said.

Said Brewers manager Craig Counsell: “Anytime you have an at-bat like that, that usually takes an inning out of you. But he was really good after. It was a great performance.”

Woodruff credited the Brewers’ offense for coming to life at the perfect time against Padres starter Yu Darvish. In sending nine men to the plate and scoring five runs, punctuated by Tellez’s three-run homer, the Brewers gave Woodruff time to rest.

They also provided a lead he did not relinquish.

“This week was a big week,” Woodruff said. “Against Texas and a really good lineup [in his previous start], I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be. Tonight, I made a couple of adjustments delivery-wise and just tried to get back to being myself.”

Also adjusting is Tellez, who finished with four RBIs and his first home run since May 22 -- ending a 128 at-bat drought - - and his first multi-hit game since June 13. Last year, he led the Brewers with 35 home runs. This year, he slumped badly, then endured a long stint on the injured list that began with a forearm issue and continued with plain bad luck.

Tellez fractured his left ring finger and tore off the nail bed while shagging fly balls following the All-Star break, right on the cusp of what was supposed to be his comeback. While he was down, the Brewers traded for a new first baseman, Carlos Santana.

But now Tellez is back as a bench bat and occasional designated hitter, a role he lived up to on Friday.

“We’re a good team,” Tellez said. “A lot of people don’t think we can hit well, but we are a very timely hitting [team], kind of build on each other. We have depth in our lineup. It’s a good team. I don’t think people really understand that.”

What makes him believe that?

“Because we’re in the NL Central. A lot of people don’t think the NL Central is that tough,” Tellez said. “But we have a really good team, and I think we’ve showed that we play good teams well. We’re a division-leading team, but I think a lot of people don’t give us credit for what we do.”