One fateful pitch from Burnes turned night sour
The Brewers needed something to lift their spirits Monday night after some troubling days, and after six innings they were in position to make it happen.
After three overpowering innings of relief, righthander Corbin Burnes took a 4-2 lead into the seventh. He had everything working, particularly his power stuff, and the Chicago White Sox weren’t getting many good swings.
Things began to unravel with one out when Burnes threw four consecutive fastballs out of the strike zone to walk Luis Robert, one of the top young prospects in the game. Burnes then locked horns with another young stud, Yoan Moncada, finally striking him out on the seventh pitch, a 96-mph four-seamer on the outer edge of the strike zone, basically an unhittable pitch.
That duel might have taken something out of Burnes, however.
He fell behind in the count, 3-0, to Chicago’s top run producer, Jose Abreu. Proven sluggers such as Abreu always have the green light on that count, something of which the Brewers had to be certain.
But Burnes made a big mistake, throwing a 95mph fastball at the top of the strike zone, splitting the plate. Abreu indeed did have permission to swing away, crushing the pitch out to center for a two-run homer that tied the game.
Just like that, all of Burnes’ great work in relief of starter Brett Anderson went down the drain.
The game continued to slip away from the Brewers, with Chicago taking a 6-4 victory in the first home game for Milwaukee after three consecutive postponements against the COVID-19 ravaged St. Louis Cardinals.
Burnes and Abreu had engaged in an epic 11pitch battle in the fifth inning, with the White Sox first baseman staying alive by fouling off five two-strike pitches. Burnes eventually won that battle by getting a cutter past Abreu but the tables were turned with the huge home run in the seventh.
Afterward,
manager
Craig Counsell admitted to second-guessing himself a bit by not summoning veteran David Phelps from the bullpen to give Abreu something different to look at.
“That was the decision point of the inning, for sure,” Counsell said. “I just thought Corbin had enough. When he fell behind, 3-0, a walk was a (possible) scenario. Not ideal but just being careful to him. Obviously, that didn’t play out. We had to keep the ball in the ballpark there.
“I thought Corbin was throwing the ball absolutely great, though. The previous at-bat ended in a strikeout. I think it’s one you look back on and maybe second-guess yourself but I thought Corbin was throwing the ball beautifully. There was so much to like about how he was throwing the ball.”
Phelps, who came on to strike out Yasmani Grandal before surrendering a run-scoring wild pitch in the eighth that put Chicago on top to stay, said Burnes will do just fine this season if he continues to throw the ball as he did against the White Sox before Abreu’s homer.
“Corbin’s been throwing the ball great all year,” Phelps said. “Sometimes it only takes one swing. That’s a dangerous pitch to a dangerous hitter – ‘dead red’ with a fastball on 3-0. I’ll put Corbin’s fastball up against anyone’s in baseball.”