Brandon Woodruff pitched for the first time since July 4 on Monday night. He took the ninth inning of the Brewers' 10-1 win over the Rays in World Series Game 3 at Tropicana Field. MLB.com's Adam McCalvy built his story around Woodruff's own words, "I want it right now", and the headline says he seized the chance to finish the game. The r/baseball posts, one from MLB's official account, show how quickly the move spread. A second post called Woodruff the longest-tenured Brewer.
Yahoo Sports adds the detail the other outlets don't have in their feed text. Woodruff had been set to start World Series Game 4, and the Brewers changed the plan. The summaries we have don't say what the new plan is or why it changed, so we won't guess. Whether he still starts Game 4 is unconfirmed.
The box score shows an eventful inning. Woodruff threw 18 pitches and allowed two hits and one earned run, with a strikeout and no walks. That was the Rays' only run of the night, scored in the ninth, and Jonathan Aranda grounded out to end the game. By then the Brewers had a nine-run lead, built on an eight-run fifth inning in which they got eight hits. They finished with 16 hits and 18 men left on base.
The layoff is clear in his game log. His previous appearance was July 4 at Arizona, where he took the loss after 3.2 innings, three earned runs and six strikeouts. The log shows nothing between that game and Monday. Before that he had worked 10 regular-season outings in 2026, including a 10-strikeout, six-inning start against Cincinnati on June 22. Our season line has him at 9 games, 45.1 innings, a 2.98 ERA and 47 strikeouts, and the Game 3 inning put his ERA at 9.00 in the box score. That figure comes from one inning, so it says little about his form.
Milwaukee arrives at this point in good shape. The Brewers went 103-59 and won the NL Central, and they have won five straight. Those include a 5-4 win over Tampa Bay on Saturday, Oct. 24, and a 6-4 win at the Dodgers on Oct. 15. The Rays went 98-64 and won the AL East. They have lost two straight to Milwaukee after beating Cleveland 7-3 on Oct. 19.
Tue, Oct 27, 8:00 PM ET
Next is Game 4 at Tampa Bay on Tuesday, Oct. 27, followed by another game in St. Petersburg on Oct. 28. The series then returns to Milwaukee on Oct. 30. The Brewers' pitching plan for Game 4 is the open question after Yahoo's report. Woodruff's 18-pitch inning on Monday is the context for it.
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