At this point, Brandon Woodruff may very well be the National League Cy Young favorite.
The former Mississippi State right-handed pitcher leads the NL in ERA (1.41), FIP (2.27), WHIP (0.70) and is second in innings pitched (64).
The wins haven’t piled up at a 3-2 record in 10 starts, as the Milwaukee Brewers provided Woodruff the lowest run support of any starting pitcher in Major League Baseball entering his start against the San Diego Padres Monday at 1.52 runs per contest.
“This is brilliance, really,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell told MLB.com about Woodruff. “He gets in this mode, and it’s like the blinders are on when he’s out there. He can’t be distracted at all.
“You get a starter like Woody some runs, it feels really good, for sure. But he’s done this, whatever the situation. That’s what I’m referring to with the blinders. He’s got them on and is going up and attacking hitters, putting zeros up. What we have in our score column is almost irrelevant to him.”
Fortunately for the former Diamond Dawg, the Brewers scored five runs Monday, more than enough to get him his third win of the season in a 5-3 victory after he tossed seven shutout innings allowing three hits with no walks and eight strikeouts for his ninth consecutive quality start. Since allowing three earned runs against the Twins on Opening Day, Woodruff has a 1.05 ERA and has held opponents to a .125 average in nine consecutive quality starts.
“It is what it is,” Woodruff told MLB.com of the low run support. “Like I said before, this game is hard. It’s hard to score runs, especially these days. I just try to go out and pitch deep into the games and stay out there as long as I can. Whether that’s a 0-0 ballgame or 10-0 ballgame, it’s not going to change the way I try to go out and do my job.”
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Adam Frazier isn’t cooling off at the plate. Entering Tuesday’s games, Frazier has produced a .335/.396/.462 slash line with one home run and 14 RBIs. His .335 batting average is the fifth-best batting average in MLB. In his last seven games, Frazier is hitting a ridiculous .429 with a .467 on-base percentage.
Texas Rangers first baseman Nate Lowe will try to pull himself out of a recent hitting slump, as he’s compiled a .154 average with 11 strikeouts in 26 at-bats in his last seven games. His numbers overall on the year remain steady, though, as the left-handed slugger is hitting .253 while reaching base at a .351 clip.
After a dreadful start to the season, Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Chris Stratton has turned his 2021 campaign around. He’s thrown nine consecutive scoreless innings, racking up nine strikeouts in those frames while holding opponents to a 0.89 WHIP. This season, Stratton has a 3.47 ERA across 23.1 innings of work while recording 22 strikeouts.
Unfortunately for Seattle Mariners relief ace Kendall Graveman, the former Diamond Dawg is headed to the 10-day injured list. He’s yet to allow a run thus far this season after tossing 16.2 scoreless innings in 14 games. The 30-year-old former starter stepped into the closer role after a strong showing in high-leverage opportunities last season put him in competition for the role, and has tallied five saves so far this season.
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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