Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff makes second rehab start with Timber Rattlers. Here's what he had to say about it
GRAND CHUTE – Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff looked sharp in his second rehab start with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, retiring the first six batters he faced before giving up a leadoff double to the Cedar Rapids Kernels’ Misael Urbina in the third inning Thursday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium.
The lone blemish on Woodruff’s line was delivered courtesy of Noah Miller, the brother of Brewers teammate Owen Miller, who drove in Urbina to tie the game with a two-out single that ate up Rattlers second baseman Robert Moore on a bad hop.
Moore didn’t take long to make up for the miscue, however, as he gave Woodruff and the Timber Rattlers the lead again, 2-1, on a 404-foot home run to right field – his seventh homer of the season – and later came up with a walk-off, two-run single in the 10th to give the Timber Rattlers a 4-3 victory.
Woodruff returned to the mound for the fourth inning and gave up two singles but avoided further damage by inducing a double play and a popup. The former National League all-star right-hander exited the game allowing the one run on four hits with no walks and three strikeouts while tossing 52 pitches – 36 for strikes.
Sidelined since April 7 with a subscapular strain in his right shoulder, Woodruff said he felt better than he did in his first appearance with the Timber Rattlers in Dayton, Ohio, when he threw three scoreless innings against the Dragons and struck out four batters while allowing two hits.
“Pretty good, I would say better than the first rehab start,” Woodruff said. “I am in a phase where it’s basically like spring training, so I’m re-building up, but it felt good. I think this one was better than the first one. For me, I’m just trying to be healthy. Today was more control, the ball was still coming out fairly well considering where I’m at and so I’m happy with that. I’ve got a few things I need to work on but, for the most part, my core things are still there – the two different fastballs – and at this level guys get pretty aggressive, so there in the last inning I just tried to bury some fastballs in and get out as quick as I could. All things considered, pretty good, yeah.”
Woodruff threw 32 pitches in his first rehab start, so the goal Thursday was to complete at least another full inning or toss about 20 to 30 more pitches.
“I did try to see if I could go back out for one more (inning),” he said. “I felt good to do that and it’s always important to get more of the ‘ups’, so go out and start an inning even though if I have to come out during the middle of an inning. But four complete – it was four or 50-60 (pitches) – and so I did both and that was good for today. I got what I needed to get done. I threw every single pitch today. I’ve got a ton to work on on that front, but other than that I did what I needed to do.”
Having missed the past three – going on four – months of action, Woodruff said it has been difficult to sit back as a spectator watching his teammates put together a season in which they’ve spent most of the time in playoff position leading the National League Central.
“It’s been tough because it kills you, one, as a competitor to have to sit there and watch the team and feel like you’re not a part of it even though I’m with the team,” Woodruff said. “You’re not able to go out and try to help contribute. Whether if it goes good or bad, you just want to be out there. That’s been the hardest thing is just not being out there with all the guys and competing with your teammates. That’s been the most difficult part.
“I’ve learned a ton throughout this process, patience being probably No. 1. I’ve tried to look ahead a couple times and I’ve had to slow down a couple times. It’s taken longer than I’ve wanted to. Initially I thought it was going to be like a two-week stint and then the MRIs didn’t come back in my favor. That’s part of a career and you deal with it, but I’ve got a good support system. It’s been a long road, but nights like this getting to come here and pitch in front of essentially a home crowd for us – only an hour and a half up the road – it’s fun. It gets me out of my comfort zone a little bit. Instead of like I’m warming up to get ready for a big league game, I’m a little bit more tuned in to what I’m doing there. But here I can relax a little bit while still trying to do a job, have fun and get ready to be back.”
Woodruff said his next rehab start will be in Nashville and then a decision will be made about his return to the Brewers.
“If next week goes well and I come out of it through five innings or whatever it is in the pitch count and I think it’s at a good spot and I feel good, then I’m going to be ready to go in my mind, so I’ll be pushing for that,” he said. “But I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch. I’m taking it a day at a time and we’ll see where we’re at.”
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff makes second rehab start
