Brandon Woodruff, pitching in the majors for the first time in 652 days, allowed one run in six innings, leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a 3-1 series-clinching win over the host Miami Marlins on Sunday afternoon.
Jackson Chourio homered and drove in all three runs to power Milwaukee’s offense.
Trevor Megill pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 20th save of the season.
The Brewers played without first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who injured his left thumb on a hard tag on Saturday.
Miami got a scare in the eighth when center fielder Dane Myers and right fielder Jesus Sanchez collided in pursuit of a shallow fly ball. Sanchez made the catch, but Myers was shaken up due to the crash. Myers left the game for a pinch hitter in the ninth.
Woodruff (1-0), who had a long recovery from shoulder surgery, gave up two hits and one walk, striking out eight in his first MLB appearance since Sept. 23, 2023. Sunday marked his first win since Sept. 11 of that year.
Woodruff’s lone mistake was an 0-2 sweeper in the fifth that stayed around the middle of the plate for Heriberto Hernandez, who slugged a home run to left.
Of Woodruff’s 70 pitches, 53 were strikes.
Miami starter Edward Cabrera (3-3) took the tough-luck loss, allowing just two runs and five hits with zero walks in seven innings.
Cabrera has pitched seven strong innings in each of his past two starts, allowing a total of just two runs.
Cabrera’s one big regret on Sunday came in the third. After an infield single by Christian Yelich — he was initially called out but the play was reversed on a video review — Cabrera threw a 1-1 slider to Chourio. The pitch wasn’t in a terrible spot, but Chourio pulled a 107-mph liner over the wall in left.
Miami cut its deficit to 2-1 in the fifth on Hernandez’s 100-mph homer.
Milwaukee added to its lead in the eighth as Sal Frelick and William Contreras started the rally with singles, putting runners on the corners. With one out, Chourio lofted a sacrifice fly to left, giving the Brewers a 3-1 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, Miami’s Connor Norby roped a ball 99 mph down the left field line, but Yelich sprinted back and made a stellar sliding catch to end the inning.
–Field Level Media
