{"id":661057,"date":"2026-05-10T03:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T03:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/661057\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T03:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T03:16:10","slug":"nl-central-notes-woodruff-lockridge-suarez-lowder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/661057\/","title":{"rendered":"NL Central Notes: Woodruff, Lockridge, Suarez, Lowder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff<\/a> was back with the club for a series against the Yankees after having fluid removed from his shoulder. He\u2019ll play catch this weekend as he nears a return to the mound, relays Adam McCalvy of MLB.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Woodruff\u2019s progression is encouraging, considering how he looked in his most recent outing. The veteran was removed after just six batters during an April 30 start against the Diamondbacks. His fastball was down more than 7 mph. Woodruff was soon placed on the injured list with shoulder inflammation.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old Woodruff has dealt with shoulder and lat injuries for the past three years. He missed all of 2024 due to shoulder surgery. Even before the outing against Arizona, Woodruff\u2019s velocity was down slightly from last season. He\u2019s several years removed from averaging mid-90s with the heater.<\/p>\n

Despite operating at a lower velocity, Woodruff has been effective. He\u2019s working with three fastballs these days, adding a cutter to his four-seamer and sinker. The veteran is throwing his changeup more than ever. Woodruff delivered a 3.20 ERA with a career-best 32.3% strikeout rate in a dozen starts last year. The strikeouts are down this season, but he has a solid 3.60 ERA through 30 innings.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more from around the division\u2026<\/p>\n

Brewers outfielder Brandon Lockridge<\/a> seems to have escaped serious injury after crashing into the wall on Friday against the Yankees. He was carted off the field and needed nine stitches to address a deep cut near his knee. Lockridge was back in the clubhouse on Saturday and hopes to return after close to a minimum stint on the IL, per McCalvey<\/a>. Manager Pat Murphy was less optimistic, expecting the outfielder to miss at least a month. Blake Perkins<\/a> was recalled to take Lockridge\u2019s spot on the roster.
\nReds\u00a0third baseman Eugenio Suarez<\/a> took 50 swings on Thursday as he works his way back from a strained oblique, relays FOX 19\u2019s Charlie Goldsmith<\/a>. The veteran infielder hasn\u2019t played since April 22. Suarez was off to a difficult start in his second stint with Cincinnati, slashing .231\/.300\/.363 across 100 plate appearances. After matching a career high with 49 home runs in 2025, he\u2019s left the yard just three times this year.
\nAlso from Goldsmith, Reds right-hander Rhett Lowder<\/a> isn\u2019t dealing with any structural damage in his shoulder. He received an injection and could throw a bullpen on Sunday. Lowder left after three innings on Thursday against the Cubs. He hasn\u2019t been placed on the IL yet. Cincinnati got lefty Nick Lodolo<\/a> back on Friday. He took the spot of right-hander Chase Petty<\/a>, who is scheduled to start at Triple-A on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff was back with the club for a series against the Yankees after having fluid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,126200,40899,105833,6105,591,248621,85],"class_list":["post-661057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blake-perkins","tag-brandon-lockridge","tag-brandon-woodruff","tag-eugenio-suarez","tag-mlb","tag-rhett-lowder","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}