Brewers 6, Pirates 0: Corbin Burnes makes history with no walks and 40 strikeouts to begin season
Corbin Burnes #CorbinBurnes
Corbin Burnes continued to do things no other pitcher has done Tuesday night.
The Milwaukee Brewers’ sizzling starter extended his historic start to the season by blanking the San Diego Padres on four hits over six innings with no walks and 10 strikeouts to lead the way to a 6-0 victory at Petco Park.
Burnes became the first starting pitcher in modern history (since 1893) to record as many as 40 strikeouts without issuing a walk to begin a season. The previous record of 35 was set by St. Louis’ Adam Wainwright in 2013.
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In lowering his earned run average to 0.37 (one earned run in 24 1/3 innings), Burnes also became the first pitcher with no walks and 40 strikeouts over a four-game stretch at any point. Since allowing his lone run of the season on a home run by Minnesota’s Byron Buxton in his first start, Burnes has pitched 18 scoreless innings.
“He’s pitching really well,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s earning those numbers because of how well he’s pitching. Tonight he had to make some pitches in the fifth to get through that inning. He got an unbelievable defensive play to get him through the fourth.
“It was a little bit of a tougher outing. He had to make some pitches but he did and that’s what good pitchers do.”
BOX SCORE: Brewers 6, Padres 0
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The combination of Burnes’ dominance and a five-run rally in the third inning allowed the Brewers to take their second in a row over the much-improved Padres, who have scored just one run in facing Milwaukee’s two best starters — Brandon Woodruff and Burnes.
“The Padres are a good team,” Counsell said. “They’ve got good pitching and a tough lineup. You come in here and you take a couple of games. It’s a good series. A chance to sweep the series tomorrow is as much as you can ask for.
“You have series on your schedule that you know are kind of going to be tough ones. I think this was one of them going in. We’ve played two nice ones led by our two big guys on the mound.”
Padres starter Chris Paddack retired the first six batters but Billy McKinney snapped that string in rude fashion by blasting a changeup out to center for his second home run in two nights. McKinney has gotten starts in left field with Christian Yelich on the injured list with an ailing back and has made the most of them.
“Players want opportunities,” Counsell said. “Players like Billy sometimes, it feels like they don’t get a ton of opportunities and you don’t know when they’re coming. Being able to deliver on those opportunities is easier said than done but that’s what Billy’s doing.
“He’s been an impactful player; he’s played really good defense; he’s been a spark. He’s a reason why we’re thriving in a stretch when we’re missing some really important players. That’s what a team does. That’s what good teams need to do. They need to get people to step up when guys go down. They need unexpected people to step up and Billy’s played that role really well.”
With one down, Burnes hit a bouncer to the right side that got past second baseman Jurickson Profar for what was ruled an error. That proved critical because the inning wasn’t over when Jackie Bradley Jr. grounded out to Paddack, and the Brewers would go on to score four more runs.
After Daniel Vogelbach singled to left to put runners on the corners, Avisaíl García took four straight balls after the count was 0-2 to draw a walk that loaded the bases. Travis Shaw lined the first pitch he saw into the right-field corner for a two-run double, and Omar Narváez (three hits) followed with an opposite-field single to left to knock in two more for a 5-0 lead.
When Burnes struck out all three batters he faced in the bottom of the inning, he made baseball history. That trifecta gave him 36 strikeouts and no walks to open the season, surpassing Wainwright to become the first starting pitcher to produce those totals in modern baseball.
After the game, Burnes was asked how he avoids thinking about the crazy-good numbers he is posting and remains focused on his work.
“I think I’ll take the rest of the night to kind of reflect on it,” he said. “You know, I’ve heard it from everyone in the clubhouse, so it’s kind of hard to escape it right now. So, tonight we’ll kind of reflect on it and enjoy it, and kind of celebrate a little bit tonight, but then we’re back at it tomorrow.”
McKinney went from home-run hero to spinner of web gems in the bottom of the fourth. Burnes’ string of retiring the first 10 hitters ended when Profar lined a 3-2 cutter to right for a base hit. After Jake Cronenworth took a called third strike, Eric Hosmer legged out an infield hit with a head-first slide into the bag that allowed Profar to scoot to third.
Wil Myers followed with a drive into the left-field corner that looked like a sure two-run, extra-base hit but McKinney raced over and laid out to make a diving grab in the corner just before smacking hard to the ground. Instead of pulling within three runs, the Padres still trailed, 5-0.
“It just felt good keeping the game at zero right there,” McKinney said. “(Burnes) deserved to put up a zero after his performance tonight so I was glad to haul that one in.
“(Coach) Quintin Berry had me kind of set up in a good position. He got me over a little bit more (to) pull and that kind of helped me get to that ball a little bit better. Just trying to get the best read that I could and knowing in that situation, Myers might be a little bit aggressive, so trying to be on my toes and be ready to make a play.”
Tommy Pham opened the Padres fifth with an opposite-field single through the right side, and Ha-Seong Kim got lucky when Burnes brushed his jersey with a 0-2 fastball for an HBP. Luis Campusano took a called third strike but pinch-hitter Jorge Mateo blooped a single into center that eluded a diving Bradley Jr.
Burnes rose to the occasion, getting Trent Grisham to chase a curveball in the dirt for a strikeout and retiring Profar on a routine grounder to second. He then pitched a 1-2-3 sixth before departing, making Myers his 10th strikeout victim.
“We definitely had to grind out the fourth and fifth (innings),” Burnes said. “We kind of lost the feel of the breaking stuff, which is going to make it tough to put some guys away. We had to kind of mix and match with the cutter and sinker there a little bit.
“But, yeah, great play by Billy to get us out of that inning and then great job by Omar back there to keep some dirt balls in front and keeping guys out there (on the bases). So, good job all around there.”
Jace Peterson, who entered the game in the seventh inning, extended the Brewers’ lead to six runs with a one-out home run to center in the ninth.
Relievers Eric Yardley, Brad Boxberger and Drew Rasmussen each turned in a scoreless frame to complete the six-hit shutout with a total of 14 strikeouts.
Afterward, McKinney was asked what his approach would be if he had to face Burnes, the way he is throwing the ball right now.
“Hope he throws me four balls,” McKinney said with a grin. “Heck, I don’t know. He’s been so nasty. That’s a tough one right there. I’m glad I’m on his side and I don’t have to really think about that. I’m not really sure what I’d do.”
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers 6, Pirates 0: Corbin Burnes makes history with no walks and 40 strikeouts to begin season