The long awaited return of Brandon Woodruff from the IL went as well as the Brewers could have expected as Milwaukee beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 on Tuesday night.
It didn't take long for Woodruff to showcase his stuff with two strikeouts in the first inning. He was cruising through the Rays lineup, going five strong innings, allowing just one run with 10 strikeouts on 76 pitches.
Luckily for Woodruff, he was able to get some run support from his offense in the top of the 6th as Andrew McCutchen and Luis Urias both slugged two-run homers to give the Brewers a comfortable 4-1 lead. Milwaukee added another run in the top of the 8th inning on a Urias double that brought home Kolten Wong, who also was activated from the IL earlier on Tuesday.
Craig Counsell tried to avoid using Devin Williams and Josh Hader with a 4 run lead and opted for Jason Alexander in the bottom of the 8th, but he struggled and allowed a pair of runs, forcing Counsell to bring in Williams to finish the 8th and then Hader to close out the 9th inning for the 5-3 victory.
Woodruff got the win and improved to 6-3 on the year while lowering his ERA to 4.44. Hader picked up his 23rd save of the year and Matt Wisler took the loss for Tampa Bay, falling to 2-2 on the season.
It's a short two game series in Tampa and they'll go for the sweep in a matinee on Wednesday with Eric Lauer (6-3, 3.89 ERA) on the bump for Milwaukee.