Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff was placed on the 15-day injured list with a sprained right ankle prior to Monday’s doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs. The move was retroactive to Saturday.

Woodruff, a two-time All-Star, sustained the injury during Friday’s outing against the St. Louis Cardinals. He underwent an MRI exam Monday that detected ligament damage, leading to the Brewers to place him on the injury list.

“We’ve got to back off him,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell told reporters before Monday’s twin bill. “He’s experiencing the pain still when he throws and so we just need to back off that and calm that down.”

Woodruff said he could feel the pain intensify during Friday’s start.

“I just knew something wasn’t right and I couldn’t perform the way I wanted to perform,” Woodruff said. “Honestly, this is the best-case scenario. I’m going to take some rest the first few days here, let the ankle calm down, do some strengthening and treatment and then progress in a few days to throwing again and seeing how it feels.

“I think it’s just something that I have to let it calm down for a few days and then get back to activities. The hard part is when you starting throwing again, it’s such a repetitive motion, what’s that going to look like? That’s the part we have to manage a little bit.”

Woodruff is 5-3 with a 4.74 ERA in nine starts this season. He has 53 strikeouts in 43 2/3 innings.

Woodruff’s injury leaves Milwaukee down two starters, as the club recently lost 2021 All-Star Freddy Peralta to a shoulder injury that will sideline the right-hander for a lengthy period of time.

The Brewers recalled left-hander Ethan Small from Triple-A Nashville and he started the first game of Monday’s doubleheader, won 7-6 by Milwaukee. Small gave up two runs, four hits and four walks and struck out four in 2 2/3 innings in his big league debut.

Milwaukee also recalled right-hander Peter Strzelecki from Nashville.

–Field Level Media