Brewers two-time All-Star SP Brandon Woodruff could return from injury Tuesday vs. Rays

Brandon Woodruff hasn't taken the hill for the Milwaukee Brewers in nearly one month. He was placed on the injured list with a sprained ankle in late May. More recently, he's been dealing with Raynaud's syndrome, which causes a "cold and numb sensation" in the fingers.

Woodruff advanced in his recovery by throwing off of a mound two weeks ago and, on Thursday, dominated to the tune of seven strikeouts over five innings and one run allowed in a High-A rehab outing. According to Lance LeQue of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the two-time All-Star is confident with where he's at.

"I had a little bit of an unfortunate thing that popped up with the Raynaud’s, and the ankle’s been good, so it’s really just been about when can I come back and throw, and just build up?" Woodruff said, per LeQue. "I wanted to come into this and try to prepare for the next start. I think if you go out there and you’re just going to throw strikes, these guys will knock you around the yard. They were aggressive, so it was fun. I still had to make some pitches, but I got to do everything I wanted to do."

The 29-year-old righty had a 5-3 record with a 4.74 ERA and 1.24 WHIP with 53 strikeouts over 43 2/3 innings covering nine starts before landing on the IL. Woodruff finished fifth in the NL Cy Young voting in 2021 — teammate Corbin Burnes was the — after registering career-best numbers in ERA (2.56), WHIP (0.97) and strikeouts (211), while recording career highs in innings pitched (179 1/3) and games started (30) as well.