PHOENIX -- Milwaukee Brewers All-Star right-hander Brandon Woodruff is expected to be sidelined for six weeks because of a left oblique strain suffered Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, manager Craig Counsell said Monday.
Woodruff grimaced after throwing a second strike to Diamondbacks leadoff hitter Tim Locastro in the fourth inning of Sunday's game, and Milwaukee's trainer immediately ran out with Counsell.
After a brief discussion, Woodruff slowly walked to the dugout. He exited after allowing four runs in three innings against Arizona.
Woodruff underwent an MRI and was placed on the 10-day injured list Monday. Right-handed reliever Burch Smith was recalled from Triple-A San Antonio.
"Less than 24 hours out, we're looking at six weeks. That's probably our best guess,'' Counsell said. "Kind of what we expected. Obviously, that's significant, and he's going to miss some time. He'll do his best, and we'll do our best to get him back as fast as we can.''
The hard-throwing right-hander allowed four runs on six hits. He was replaced by Junior Guerra with the game tied 4-4.
Woodruff has been Milwaukee's best pitcher this season and earned his first NL All-Star nod. He entered Sunday's game 11-3 with a 3.53 ERA and allowed three earned runs in 20 1/3 innings his previous three starts.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.