Brewers 12, Marlins 0: Brandon Woodruff delivers Milwaukee's first shutout since 2021

With Brandon Woodruff at 92 pitches after eight innings, Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell pulled his burly righthander into the tunnel in the home dugout. Woodruff hadn’t allowed a run to that point, working crisply and efficiently to mow down the Miami Marlins. an opportunity to do something special.

The discussion was brief.

Woodruff was getting the ninth.

With the bullpen taxed from a 13-inning contest on Sunday and at the outset of a stretch of 17 games in 17 days, the Milwaukee Brewers needed length out of Woodruff.

He gave the Brewers the first shutout of his career.

Woodruff went the distance to lead the Brewers to a 12-0 win, allowing six hits and just one walk over nine innings. He threw 106 pitches, popping up Jesus Sanchez in foul territory for his 27th out to log the Brewers’ first shutout since Adrian Houser on September 4, 2021, a span of 329 games.

Brandon Woodruff finishes off 106-pitch shutout

From the moment Woodruff brought his hands together, elevated his glove to cover his face, took a deep breath and then painted a fastball up in the zone to punch out Bryan De La Cruz, it was game over for the Marlins.

The outing was not only the first shutout of Woodruff’s career but the first time Woodruff ever completed nine innings – though not his first complete game, which he technically accomplished by going the distance in a shortened seven-inning game in 2020.

This was as good as it gets from Woodruff.

Aside from the first and sixth innings in which he had to wiggle out of light trouble, Woodruff was in complete command.

Even without rolling in his trademark swing-and-miss, Woodruff still struck out seven.

An aggressive Marlins lineup in the middle innings made it possible for Woodruff to accomplish the feat. Woodruff threw seven pitches in the third, eight in the fourth and then seven again in the fifth.

That allowed him to survive a relatively laborious first and sixth. A double play when Josh Bell made a baserunning mistake to get out of the sixth also proved critical in helping Woodruff finish off the game.

In the ninth, Woodruff allowed a broken-bat single with one out, then another single with two outs.

Counsell never budged from his perch on the dugout step.

Woodruff didn’t either, all night long.

Brewers put endless pressure on Marlins starter

While Woodruff was breezing through the Marlins order, his offense was relentless against Marlins starter Jesus Luzardo.

Luzardo came in on a roll, having allowed just 11 base runners over 18 two-run innings over his last three outings.

In just five innings, the Brewers tagged him for 10 hits, four walks and six runs.

Mark Canha opened the night with a leadoff homer, slicing a 2-2 Luzardo offering just over the fence in left. The Brewers never gave Luzardo room to breathe from there.

They didn’t score again in the first or second but did put a pair of runners on base in both innings to make Luzardo have to labor.

In the third, six straight Brewers hitters reached to plate three more runs and push the lead to 4-0. The big blows came from Willy Adames, who doubled home a run as part of a three extra-base hit night, Josh Donaldson driving in a run by notching his first hit in his first game with the Brewers and Tyrone Taylor’s RBI single.

Taylor then delivered a two-out double to score Adames in the fifth and, thanks to a deft slide, came around to score on Sal Frelick’s ensuing single off Luzardo to make it 6-0, Milwaukee.

Brewers bust game open for good against Marlins bullpen

Daniel Castano, best known around Milwaukee for allowing homers to Brewers pitcher Adrian Houser twice in the same season, entered for Luzardo in the sixth. While he didn’t allow any long balls to pitchers this time around, the outing was equally forgettable.

Six straight Brewers reached base safely against Castano to open the inning. Willy Adames cleared the bases with a triple down the line in left, capping his excellent night, and scored to make it 10-0 on Andruw Monasterio’s RBI single.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brandon Woodruff pitches complete-game shutout in win over Marlins