Brewers score three in ninth to win 6-5 in Woodruff’s return to Milwaukee

Andrew Vaughn has four more RBI, including game-tying two-run double in ninth

Box Score

The Brewers picked up their sixth straight win today in dramatic fashion, as a three-run bottom of the ninth gave the Brewers a walk-off victory. But this was a dramatic day even before the first pitch, as Brandon Woodruff made his long-anticipated return to the mound at American Family Field, just a couple of months shy of two years after he last pitched there. But Woodruff’s nice day (he pitched well in 4 ¹⁄₃ innings) was overshadowed by the team’s late comeback and another huge hit by the guy who is quickly becoming a Milwaukee folk hero: Andrew Vaughn.

The reception for Woodruff was, predictably, warm.

Woodruff got the first out of the game when CJ Abrams grounded out to second base, and he followed that by striking out All-Star James Wood on three pitches. Josh Bell extended the inning when he hit a line drive that was about an inch too high for Brice Turang, who got his glove on the ball but couldn’t snag it. It took a few pitches, but Woodruff struck out the next batter, Nathaniel Lowe, and he had a scoreless first in his return to Milwaukee.

Shinnosuke Ogasawara got his afternoon underway when he got Sal Frelick to fly out to center field on the second pitch he threw. On the third pitch, William Contreras hit a hard grounder up the middle, but the Nationals’ defense was positioned well, and it was an easy out. With two outs, Jackson Chourio reached on a weak grounder to third that went for an infield hit, but on the first pitch to Christian Yelich, Chourio was cut down trying to steal second base for the third out.

Woodruff had no trouble with the first two batters of the second inning, but Daylen Lile got around on a fastball on the inside corner and just snuck it onto and over the top of the wall in right field for a solo homer. A strikeout of Riley Adams ended the inning, but Lile’s second career homer had put the Brewers in an early hole.

Yelich, back at the plate after Chourio was caught stealing, started the second inning with a walk. Vaughn, though, grounded into a double play, and just one pitch later, Isaac Collins grounded out to end the inning.

Jacob Young led off the third, and Frelick almost made a spectacular catch on a foul ball that sent him crashing (in a more controlled way than usual) into the wall down the line. Woodruff struck Young out on the next pitch for the first out, but Abrams followed with a single to center to give Washington a baserunner. With Wood up, Abrams stole second with no throw when the pitch was in the dirt, but Woodruff struck Wood out, and then he struck out Bell to complete the trifecta.

Ogasawara had another quick inning in the third with a strikeout of Turang, a groundout from Caleb Durbin, and a fly ball from Joey Ortiz. He was through three shutout innings, having faced the minimum.

Lowe hit a ball hard to left field to start the fourth, but it was too close to Collins, who made the catch. Woodruff struck out Luis García Jr. for the second out and was up to eight strikeouts even before the fourth inning was over, but he hung a breaking ball on the first pitch to rookie Brady House, and he blasted it way out to left for the first home run of his career. Lile was called out on strikes, and the fourth inning was over — Woodruff had 9 Ks through four innings, but the Nationals were up 2-0.

Ogasawara got ahead of Frelick 1-2, but a breaking ball got away and hit Frelick, so the Brewers had a leadoff baserunner in their half of the fourth. Contreras followed with the first hit out of the infield for the Brewers, a single to left, and the Brewers had runners on first and second with nobody out. Ogasawara should have had the first out when Chourio hit a hard line drive to left that fooled Wood; it was hit harder than Wood realized (104 mph), and he took a step in before realizing it was going over his head. Frelick scored, and Chourio ended up at second, and Chourio was credited with a double.

Ogasawara got a big first out when he struck out Yelich with a slider off the plate. But the next batter was Vaughn, who, as a Brewer, is apparently the greatest run producer of all time. He lined a ball just over the glove of the third baseman, House, and both runners scored on a double for Vaughn. That extended his franchise-record streak to five straight games with an RBI to start his tenure with the team. Ogasawara got the next two, Collins and Turang, but Milwaukee was on top, 3-2.

Given all the strikeouts, Woodruff’s pitch count wasn’t in as good of shape as it was on Sunday in Miami, but he went back out for the fifth and started by striking out Adams for his 10th of the game. His next pitch, to Young, was banged up the middle for a single, and at 81 pitches, that was it for Woodruff, who’ll still be on a pitch count for a bit. Jared Koenig came out of the bullpen to hold the lead, and was gifted an out when Young took off too early on a stolen base attempt and was picked off, and on what was Koenig’s first pitch, Abrams lined a one-hopper to short for the third out.

Woodruff’s book was closed. He would be ineligible for a win, given that he didn’t complete the fifth inning, but he left the game with a lead. He took full advantage of a generous outer half in umpire Alfonso Márquez’s strike zone and used the excellent control he displayed in Miami to keep Nats hitters behind all day. It was the 20th 10-strikeout game for Woodruff. His final line was five hits, no walks, 10 strikeouts, and two runs — both solo homers — in 4 ¹⁄₃ innings.

Ogasawara was lifted after four and was replaced by righty Brad Lord, who got Durbin to pop out on his first pitch. Ortiz grounded out to second, and Frelick to first, and Lord had a quick and easy inning.

Koenig kept going in the sixth and struck out Wood to start the inning, but walked Bell with one out. Koenig got another strikeout on a favorable strike three call on Lowe, but García got a base hit on a flare to no-man’s land. With two out and runners on first and second, Pat Murphy opted for Nick Mears. He was facing House, who had clobbered that homer off of Woodruff; he hit one hard again, this one straight at Ortiz at shortstop, who knocked it down but couldn’t do more than that. With the bases loaded, Lile hit a tapper in front of the mound that Mears pounced on and, in a fairly close play, got the out at first base to end the threat.

Lord, who’d worked a very efficient fifth inning, had another 1-2-3 inning in the sixth and needed only 21 pitches to get six outs. Adams led off the seventh with a base hit off of Mears, which was followed by a Young grounder that wasn’t quite hit hard enough to be a double play. Abner Uribe came in to relieve Mears, and Uribe got another grounder that wasn’t quite enough to be a double play on the speedy Abrams. But Wood popped out, and Mears and Uribe had gotten the Brewers through seven with their 3-2 lead intact.

Lord faced one more batter — Vaughn, who lined out to right field — before giving way to the lefty Andrew Chafin, who was briefly a Brewer in 2023 (you’d be forgiven for forgetting his forgettable run as a Brewer). He got Collins to pop out before Turang almost hit one out, but it was caught on the warning track by Young in deep left center.

Uribe, back out in the eighth, gave up a leadoff single to Bell, but he was erased on a grounder by Lowe that, like the two in the previous inning, wasn’t hit hard enough to turn into a double play, though Turang and Ortiz made a valiant attempt.

García should have struck out on an 0-2 slider that he watched, but if you ever want to see a textbook example of how poor pitch framing affects an umpire, go find that 0-2 pitch from Uribe. A couple pitches later, García tapped one back to Uribe for the second out, but House — having already hit his first career homer today — got a 2-0 slider (and, if we want to grumble a bit here, the first pitch should have been a strike but wasn’t) that hung in the zone, and House put it in the second deck in left for his second homer of the game. That flipped the scoreboard and gave the Nationals a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning. It was a rare rough outing for Uribe, who struggled after going back out after the break between innings.

Playing from behind, now, the Brewers sent Durbin to the plate to lead off the eighth against Jose Ferrer. The offense needed a jumpstart: since Vaughn’s clutch double in the fourth, the Nationals had retired 11 straight Brewers. Durbin didn’t end that streak, but Ortiz did when he knocked a single up the middle for a hit. Frelick, showing bunt, was nearly hit by a 97-mph fastball that was heading straight for what Vinny Rottino called his “lower body” on the broadcast. After swinging away on a 1-0 pitch, Frelick then knocked a hit to left on 1-1 and the Brewers had back-to-back singles against Ferrer. That got Washington’s closer, Kyle Finnegan, active in the bullpen. Washington wouldn’t need him in this inning, though; Contreras smoked a ball, 111 mph, but it was right to García at second base, who turned a very easy 4-3 double play.

With the Brewers behind, they sent Grant Anderson to the hill for the top of the ninth. Adams started the inning by working a seven-pitch walk, and with Adams running, Jacob Young hit a grounder past a drawn-in Durbin for a single. That put runners at the corners with no outs. Abrams jumped on the first pitch and hit a fly ball pretty deep to center, which easily scored Adams from third. Anderson struck out Wood for the second out, but (after a stolen base by Young), Alex Call walked to put two runners on. Anderson was clearly fighting his command, but he managed to strike out Lowe to end the inning. The Nats had added on, though, and the Brewers would need two runs if they were to get a dramatic comeback.

It has been a long time since Finnegan has gotten a save, though that’s mostly due to lack of opportunity rather than anything he’s done wrong. Still, you’d expect a few nerves for a guy whose last save came on June 6. Chourio led off with his second infield hit (and third hit) of the game, and Yelich walked on four pitches, and you could feel the wheels turning in Finnegan’s brain. That brought up — who else? — Vaughn. And in what is starting to feel ridiculous, Vaughn lined the first pitch into the right field gap that not only scored Chourio but also Yelich from first.

Andruw Monasterio replaced Vaughn as a pinch-runner, and he made an excellent baserunning move on the next play. Bauers hit an easy grounder to third, but Monasterio sped to a vacant third base as soon as House threw the ball. That led to an intentional walk of Turang, but he promptly took second base with no throw, so any hope of a double play was gone. It didn’t matter: on the second pitch he saw, Durbin lined a single to right, and Monasterio trotted home to score the winning run.

This was a roller coaster of a game. It felt like the Brewers were cruising to a win, even though it was a close game, and House’s second homer hit like a slap in the face, reminding us all that no matter how hot the team has been, they need to stay sharp. But the stage was set for a late comeback, and when Vaughn came to the plate with two runners on against a guy who hadn’t gotten a save in over a month, it felt scripted.

After going 2-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs today, Vaughn is 6-for-14 (.429) with those two doubles, two homers, and 10 RBIs as a Brewer. The other offensive standout today was Chourio, who went 3-for-4 with two infield hits, a double (that should have been caught), an RBI, and two runs scored. While Uribe and Anderson weren’t at their best, it was great to see the offense pick them up with the comeback victory.

The Brewers will play their last game before the All-Star break tomorrow, when they’ll go for a sweep against these Nationals and their seventh straight win. That game is at 1:10 p.m., and Milwaukee will send Freddy Peralta to the hill to face Jake Irvin.