Brandon Woodruff led the Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-2 victory over the Miami Marlins, showcasing strong pitching against Sandy Alcantara. Brice Turang contributed significantly with a home run and three RBIs.
Key points
Brandon Woodruff pitched effectively for the Brewers
Brice Turang hit a home run and had three RBIs
Sandy Alcantara struggled with control and issued multiple walks
Apr 18, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff (53) delivers a pitch against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Apr 18, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff (53) delivers a pitch against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Today was a matchup of two of the early 2020s biggest pitching stars, a former Cy Young Award winner versus a two-time All-Star and top-five Cy Young finisher. But it was the elder Brandon Woodruff who got the best of an uncharacteristically wild Sandy Alcantara today, and Brice Turang reached base four times, homered, and knocked in three runs to lead the Brewers to a comfortable 5-2 victory.
On Alcantaraâs second pitch of the game, Sal Frelick hit a well-placed soft line drive to shortstop that was fielded on a bounce by Otto Lopez, who could not get it to first base in time to beat the speedy Frelick. But Frelick was followed by two Brewers who made solid contact, but werenât as lucky with their placement: William Contreras hit a 101 mph fly ball to center, which was caught, and Brice Turang hit a hard ground ball up the middle, straight at Lopez, who was positioned to easily turn a double play.
The Marlins were aggressive against Woodruff in the bottom of the first, and made some decent contact, but had nothing to show for it: Woodruff needed just nine pitches to retire , , and .
Alcantara struck out and got a groundout from to start the second, but with two outs lined a double into the left-field cornerâin a bizarre statistical quirk, that gave Rengifo six doubles out of only nine total hits on the season. followed with a walk, but grounded out to end the inning and the Brewers couldnât quite come through on the two-out rally. They did, however, make the ultra-efficient Alcantara throw 22 pitches in the second inning.
Woodruff got ahead of to start the bottom of the second, but couldnât put him away, and Hicks ended up at first with an infield hit when Ortiz was able to dive and stop a ground ball but was unable to make a throw. Ortiz made a nice play on the next batter, when Lopez hit a chopper to short that Ortiz threw him out on (with the aid of a nice pick from Bauers). , though, came through with a clean ground-ball single up the middle, which scored Hicks from second. Neither of Miamiâs hits was hit all that hard, but they were hit in the right spots. Woodruff got the last two outs with a couple of fly balls to keep the deficit at one.
Ortiz drew a leadoff walk in the third, and after a Frelick fly out, Alcantara walked Contreras and Turang, tooâan unusual bout of wildness for Alcantara, who came in with just six walks in 30 1/3 innings. The three walks loaded the bases for SĂĄnchez, but unfortunately this was a meeting of skillsets that did not work in the Brewersâ favor: Alcantara, who gets a lot of double plays, got a ground ball from SĂĄnchez, who probably wouldâve beaten the throw to first if he were anyone else on the Brewers. But he is Gary SĂĄnchez, and beating double play relays is not his strong suit, and the Brewers were unable to answer the Marlinsâ opening run.
Like Alcantara, Woodruff also walked the number-nine hitter to start the bottom of the inning, in this case . Marsee did Woodruff a favor by flying out on the first pitch he saw, and Edwards burned the Marlinsâ second ABS challenge in the process of striking out. RamĂrez worked back from 0-2 to 3-2 but grounded out to short to end the inning.
Bauers led off the fourth with a fly ball to the warning track in left, but it didnât have quite enough juice to get out. Rengifo drew a one-out walk, Alcantaraâs fifth of the game, and he advanced to second on a groundout from Mitchell. Lockridge fell behind 0-2, but fouled off three 0-2 pitches before lining an RBI single into center that tied the game. Lockridge continued his good inning with a steal of second with Ortiz at the plate, but Ortiz popped out to end the inning. Still, tie game.
Hicks picked up a single with a soft line drive to center on a 1-2 pitch to start the bottom of the fourth. Some defensive confusion followed: Lopez hit a ground ball to Bauers, who started a throw to second, but changed his mind. Bauers instead turned and tossed to Woodruff, who seemed to think that Bauers had thrown it to second, and he wasnât looking, and the ball went by him. But the Marlins were confused, too, and Contreras, who backed up the play, was able to throw Hicks out at third. It was scored as an E3, with a fielderâs choice at third. Norby followed and hit a ball hard to deep center, but it held up for Mitchell, who caught it on the warning track. Lopez tagged and advanced to third, but he was stranded there when struck out looking (on a 95.7 mph fastball, his hardest of the game).
The Brewers had the top of the order against Alcantara in the top of the fifth. Frelick popped out for the first out, and it looked like Contreras shouldâve grounded out, but Edwards, the second baseman, just missed the ball, and it trickled into center field and the hustling Brewer catcher made it into second base. It would have been a sort of tough play for Edwards, who moved quite a ways to get there, but it certainly looked like a play that shouldâve been madeâthe official scorer, though, generously gave Contreras a double. Whether Contreras reached on an error or not didnât matter when, on the very next pitch, Turang blew up an Alcantara cutter right down the middle and hit it out over the wall in right-center. 3-1 Brewers.
Alcantara walked his sixth batter, SĂĄnchez, after the homer; that tied his career high for a single game, and matched the total number heâd walked through his first four starts this season. SĂĄnchez moved to second on a wild pitch, but Bauers popped out and Rengifo lined out to left (on a batted ball with a .770 xBA, credit to the Marlinsâ defensive positioning) and the inning ended.
Woodruff retired Miami in order on three fly balls in the fifth. Alcantaraâs afternoon was over when he was relieved by , but Miamiâs wildness was not. Mitchell drew his second walk to lead off the sixth and stole second to give the Brewers a prime chance to add on. Lockridge struck out, but with Ortiz at the plate Mitchell advanced to third on a wild pitch and then Ortiz drew his second walk, too. With runners on the corners, Miami brought its infield in, and Frelick hit a chopper to second. Lopez threw home, and Mitchell was called out at home, but Milwaukee challenged the call and it was overturned.
Frelick was credited with an RBI fielderâs choice, and the Brewers still had runners on first and second with just one out. Bender struck out Contreras for the second out, but Turang lined a single to center that scored Ortiz and made it 5-1. SĂĄnchez was hit between the shoulder blades with a 97 mph sinker that got away from Bender, and that was his last pitch; with the bases loaded and Bauers up, Miami moved to âsurprisingly, not a lefty. Bauers made hard contact on a hanging curveball, but lined out to left field and the inning ended.
Woodruff was back out for the sixth and had only thrown 65 pitches. He worked quickly through the sixth, too, with a major assist from Lockridge, when a pop fly that looked like it was going to be a bloop hit ended up in the glove of the Brewer left fielder, who caught it on a full dive.
Bachar continued in the seventh and allowed a two-out walk to Lockridge but otherwise had no trouble. Woodruff was back out for the seventh with his pitch count at 75. He got Lopez to fly out to right, and then Lockridge *almost* made another spectacular play not unlike the great catch he made in foul territory in Milwaukee . Woody did get that batter, Norby, to pop out, and after a bit of a battle he struck out Caissie to put a cherry on top of a very good day.
Woodruff became the first Brewer pitcher to complete seven innings this season. He threw 92 pitches, and allowed only four baserunners, three hits and a walk. The only blemish was the run that resulted from two sub-95mph ground balls in the second inning, and he struck out four. He finished his outing stronger than he started it, by retiring 11 straight Marlins.
In his third inning of work, Bachar gave up a two-out walk to Turang but had no other trouble. Woodruff was replaced in the bottom of the inning by (no relation). Woodford got two quick ground-ball outs, allowed back-to-back two-out singles to Marsee and Edwards, but got out of it with a ground ball from RamĂrez that ended the inning.
Lefty John King was the new Marlins pitcher in the ninth, and he issued a two-out walk to Mitchell (his third and the teamâs 11th today) but struck out Lockridge on three pitches to end it. With a four-run lead in place, Woodford was given a chance to finish the game in the bottom of the ninth. One-out singles from Lopez and Norby prompted a visit from Chris Hook while warmed in the bullpen, and another hit, this one by Caissie, loaded the bases and ended Woodfordâs afternoon.
Uribe entered with a four-run cushion and only two outs to get but with the tying run at the plate. On Uribeâs first pitch, hit a grounder to third. Rengifo threw to second for the second out, but Turang held the ball instead of trying for the double play, and a run crossed for Miami. They were down to their last out, though, and Sanoja grounded out harmlessly to second and the game was over.
Thatâs four in a row for Milwaukee, and a second straight series victory after their slide of a week and a half ago. Woodruff was the big star today, but Turang carried the offense: he was 2-for-3 with a home run, three RBI, and two walks. Frelick and Lockridge also contributed RBI, while Mitchell walked three times and Ortiz did so twice.
The Brewers will go for a sweep tomorrow when these two teams will participate in another good pitching matchup: versus . That game is at 12:40 p.m.
Q&A
What was the final score of the Brewers vs. Marlins game on April 18, 2026?
The Milwaukee Brewers won the game against the Miami Marlins with a final score of 5-2.
Who were the standout players in the Brewers vs. Marlins game?
Brandon Woodruff was the standout pitcher for the Brewers, while Brice Turang excelled at the plate with a home run and three RBIs.
How did Sandy Alcantara perform against the Brewers?
Sandy Alcantara struggled during the game, exhibiting uncharacteristic wildness and allowing multiple walks, which contributed to the Marlins' loss.
What significant plays occurred during the Brewers vs. Marlins game?
Key plays included Brice Turang's home run and three RBIs, as well as a critical ground ball double play that the Brewers were unable to execute.
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