Woodruff 'so good' as Crew sweeps in DC

Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff is having a season for the ages and it got even better on Sunday afternoon as he pitched seven shutout innings in a 3-0 victory over the Nationals at Nationals Park.

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The Brewers swept the three-game series and improved to 28-25.

“That’s huge,” Woodruff said. “Hopefully, that’s a good sign to come and we keep playing some good baseball.”

Woodruff lowered his ERA to 1.27 and struck out 10. It looked like his arsenal of pitches had Washington’s hitters on the defensive, as they couldn’t touch his 97 mph fastball. Woodruff's curveball was unhittable, while the Nats had weak contact against his changeup.

“I've seen him for years now, and his fastball is pretty electric,” Nationals first baseman Josh Bell said. “For the most part, he stays on top of the zone with it, and then he's on the first-base side, so there's a little bit of deception with an angle coming in. So yeah, his fastball kind of hops a little bit, so you got to stay on top of it, you got to stay behind it. But he definitely had our number today."

In fact, Woodruff held the Nationals hitless until Kyle Schwarber led off the fifth with a single. Washington didn’t have a runner in scoring position until the sixth, which was Woodruff’s only stressful inning. Yadiel Hernandez was on second base when Bell flew out to Christian Yelich to end the inning.

“I was mixing it up and getting ahead and moving the ball around to different quadrants of the zone. That’s what helps out,” Woodruff said. “You are thinking one thing and [the opponents] don’t get it. That’s a credit to [catcher] Omar [Narváez]. Thankfully, I was able to execute and get deep into the game.”

Woodruff now has 10 consecutive quality starts. The last Brewers pitcher to accomplish that feat was left-hander CC Sabathia in 2008.

“Quality start is selling it short if you are defining it as six innings and three runs,” manager Craig Counsell said. “[Woodruff] has been better than that. That’s what great pitchers do; it’s deep in the game and not giving up runs at all. It’s a low number every time.

“Starts like that take pressure off the offense. It doesn’t require a big number from them. That’s why we win games. We didn’t put a big number on the board. He was so good. That’s good enough.”

Woodruff was on top of his game against another elite ace, Max Scherzer, who struck out 10 in six innings.

“Anytime you go against Max, it’s going to be a challenge,” Woodruff said. “He is one of the best in the game, the best that ever did it. I was looking forward to it for sure.”

But Scherzer’s only blemish occurred in the first inning when he allowed a two-run homer to Avisaíl García, a former teammate when both were with the Tigers. That was plenty of support to push Woodruff to 4-2 on the season.

“Scherzer is a great pitcher,” García said. “Lately, we couldn’t score runs for Woodruff. Now, it’s getting better. If we are going to score first against a guy like Scherzer, we have a chance."