WASHINGTON -- Brewers All-Star righty Brandon Woodruff confirmed Friday he’s been diagnosed with Raynaud’s syndrome, a circulatory condition that causes numbness in the extremities due to reduced blood flow. The issue will keep Woodruff on the injured list past Sunday, the first day he was eligible to return from a sprained ankle that’s sidelined him since late May.

There is no concrete timetable for Woodruff’s return, he and manager Craig Counsell said. The setback is a grip issue, affecting Woodruff’s ability to spin his two breaking pitches, he said.

"It's definitely not great because it is his pitching hand,” Counsell said before Friday’s 11-5 loss to the Nationals, Milwaukee’s seventh straight defeat keeping the skipper one game shy of tying Phil Garner atop the franchise’s managerial wins list. “The doctors think that the treatment and medication will resolve it, and we’ve seen a little bit of progress, so we're hopefully on the right track. We don't really know exactly how long, though.”

Woodruff said he first noticed a cold feeling in the fingers on his right hand a few days after spraining his right ankle May 27 against the Cardinals, the symptoms persisting for several days even as he abstained from throwing. They were exacerbated when he completed a bullpen session to test the ankle (which has since fully healed), resulting in skin bleaching and numbness in his right pointer, middle and ring fingers. Woodruff began treatment and reported improvement after throwing off the mound Thursday, and said he is scheduled to test the issue again Saturday.

“It just kind of came up out of nowhere,” Woodruff said. “My fingers were cold. That was the number one indicator. And I'm like, ‘It’s 80 degrees outside. My fingers shouldn't be cold …’ Kind of like when [you] go sit outside and it's real cold, and your fingers just get cold, without the stinging part. Your hands just feel numb. Yeah, that's kind of the way it feels.”

The righty’s progress will continue to be monitored until a timetable becomes more clear. But it's very likely Woodruff would need to embark on a rehab assignment before returning to Milwaukee’s rotation, even if the issue resolves relatively quickly.

“I've just been kind of taking it day by day,” Woodruff said. “So today, it was a lot better than the previous days. So the medication I'm on is definitely working.”

Neither of Woodruff’s two fastballs nor his changeup are impacted by the issue. But his inability to apply pressure with his three middle fingers complicates the bite and his command of his slider and curveball.

“A Major League pitcher needs that,” Counsell said. “He can’t be at 70 percent. We need it all the way back … we need it to be at 100 percent.”

The setback complicates an already frustrating season for Woodruff, the 2-time All-Star and fifth-place finisher in last year’s National League Cy Young voting. The 29-year-old is 5-3 with a 4.74 ERA and 1.24 WHIP over his first nine starts, after going 26-18 with a 3.06 ERA and 1.043 WHIP over the previous four seasons. And it comes at a time the Brewers are already down a starter in injured righty Freddy Peralta, and dealing with a spate of other injuries.

The Brewers are already dipping into their depth to replace Peralta and filling Woodruff’s spot with swingman Aaron Ashby, who coughed up six runs on 13 hits to take the loss Friday. After allowing one run or fewer in four of his first five starts, Ashby has now been charged with at least four in consecutive starts; On Friday he became the second MLB pitcher to allow at least 13 hits in a start this season, and the first Brewers starter to do so since Wily Peralta on May 1, 2016.

The Brewers won that game.

These Brewers haven’t won in more than a week. It’s their first seven-game losing streak since July 11-20, 2018.

They’ve lost 9 of 10 overall, dropping out of first place in the NL Central on Friday with St. Louis’ win over Cincinnati. Counsell’s frustration bubbled over in the fifth, when he was ejected by home-plate umpire Ramon De Jesus following a series of on-field discussions. The first Brewers ejection of the season was the 24th career hook for Counsell, tying him for 9th among active managers with Dusty Baker, in 2,712 fewer games.

“Everything in the game we have to do a little bit better,” Counsell said. “When you’re playing from behind, you have to hedge everything, essentially, because of the next day. That’s why it’s a team. Everything is related. Everyone needs to pick each other up.”