Saturday Turning Points: Big Woo Deals, Bauer Hits a Bomb, Bullpen Stays Strong

Ten years ago, I was covering Brewers baseball for another website and part of my workload involved covering the minor leagues, including the Brevard County Manatees, the Brewers entry in the High-A Florida State League. One of the players on that team was a pitcher by the name of Brandon Woodruff. Today, 'Big Woo' pitched deep into the game and led the Brewers to a 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday evening at PNC Park. The win was the seventh straight victory over the Pirates this year and the Brewers have won nine of 12 in the season series, with the final contest set for Sunday afternoon.

Here are the key plays and other miscellany about the game in Pittsburgh tonight.

Top of the Fourth, Jake Bauers vs. Mitch Keller, +24.0% Win Expectancy
Bauers, continuing his recent hot streak, had singled in the second inning.  After an Oneil Cruz misplay in center field gave the Brewers life in the fourth, allowing William Contreras to reach, Bauers lined a ball over the 21-foot-high right field 'Clemente Wall,' named after Pirate legend Roberto Clemente, for a two-run shot to give the Brewers an early 2-0 lead. The blast traveled 382 feet with an exit velo of 99 mph off an inside fastball.

Bottom of the Seventh, Rob Zastryzny vs. Nick Yorke, +7.4% Win Expectancy
Bryan Reynolds, a long time nemesis of the Brewers, had doubled to left to lead off the inning for Pittsburgh. Tommy Pham flew out and Nick Gonzales grounded out before Cruz drew a full-count walk to put runners on first and second. Nick Yorke, making only his fourth big league appearance this year, fouled out to third baseman Caleb Durbin for the final out of the seventh inning.

Top of the Eighth, Jackson Chourio vs. Evan Sisk, +9.4% Win Expectancy
Sisk had come into the game in the top of the seventh with one out and Andrew Vaughn on first and promptly struck out Caleb Durbin and Blake Perkins to end the inning. After getting Joey Ortiz to ground out to short to start the eighth, Sal Frelick shot a base hit up the middle. On a 1-1 pitch, Jackson Chourio lined a ball that just barely cleared the left field wall for a two-run jack that ended a 0-for-17 skid. 

Top Performers
1. Brandon Woodruff, 36.2% WPA: 6 IP, 0 BB, 8 K
2. Jake Bauers, 25% WPA, 2-for-3, HR

Not Great, Bob
1. Caleb Durbin, -10.3% WPA, 0-for-4, 1 K

Game Notes
Pittsburgh 1B Spencer Horwitz handled five grounders at first, resulting in three 3U plays, and two 3-1 putouts.

Woodruff is not the same pitcher he used to be, but has shown he is more of a 'pitcher,' and less of a 'thrower.' In five of his first starts in 2025, he was pretty much lights out, winning four times while posting an ERA of 2.29 across 35.1 innings. He struggled in his next four outings, posting an ERA of 6.38. But after five days rest, Woodruff came across as a top-of-the-rotation stud, allowing two hits in six innings while whiffing eight. Woodruff retired 15 straight batters from the first into the sixth. 'Big Woo' is back.

Brice Turang batted third for the first time all year and struggled early, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts before banging a single in the eighth inning.

Pittsburgh southpaw Evan Sisk made an grab of a line drive off the bat of Durbin in the ninth inning. Sisk caught the ball blindly behind his back, much to the amazement of Durbin.

Bullpen Usage