Offense unleashes a run-scoring barrage
PITTSBURGH — Corbin Burnes didn’t bring his A-game with him to PNC Park on Friday.
But thanks to a banner night for the Milwaukee Brewers’ bats, it didn’t come close to mattering.
Luis Urías, Keston Hiura and Rowdy Tellez all homered in a seven-batter span to key a seven-run second inning and then an eight-run eighth inning capped a 19-2 annihilation of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The 17-run margin of victory was the largest of the season for Milwaukee, which hit five homers in all and had eight different players drive in runs in a 16-hit attack.
The last time the Brewers beat an opponent by a bigger margin was on Sept. 9, 2020, when they blanked the Detroit Tigers, 19-0, at Comerica Park.
And entering Friday, the Brewers had never had multiple seven-run innings in a game. The last team to accomplish the feat in the major leagues was the Oakland A’s against the Kansas City Royals on June 1, 2018.
“We got it started, and we didn’t stop,” said Andrew McCutchen on the heels of another three-hit game for him. “We just carried that momentum over from last night. We had a good game last night; we just happened to lose. But we fought back.
“I was like, ‘Tomorrow’s going to be special.’ I kept telling people, ‘Tomorrow’s going to be special. You’re going to see.’ You could just feel it. And we were able to showcase it tonight.”
Burnes took a no-hitter into the sixth inning despite battling command issues for the entirety of his 100-pitch outing. He nevertheless improved his record to 7-4 and lowered his earned run average to 2.36.
The offense teed off on Pirates starter
Roansy Contreras, chasing him from the game after just 12⁄3 innings.
After Kolten Wong’s RBI double two batters into the second inning got the Brewers onto the scoreboard, Urías homered to center. Two batters later, Hiura drove one out to left.
Jonathan Davis and Christian Yelich then drew consecutive walks from Contreras. After Willy Adames grounded out, Tellez fell behind in the count, 1-2, before homering to right-center to give Milwaukee the one-touchdown lead.
It was the sixth consecutive hit resulting in a homer for Tellez.
Contreras was done at that point but the offense wasn’t, as it tacked on two additional runs in the fourth.
They came with two outs and courtesy a Tellez double to right after Yelich walked and Adames singled.
It was the ninth consecutive hit resulting in extra bases for Tellez, tying him with four other players in franchise history. The last to accomplish the feat was Damian Miller, from April 18-22, 2006.
The record is held by Ryan Thompson, who had 10 from Aug. 22-Sept. 1, 2002.
With so much breathing room – a rarity for him this season – Burnes was able to pitch through some rare command issues largely without the outcome of the game hanging in the balance.
And despite walking four, hitting a batter and throwing a wild pitch, he was one out into the sixth inning before Bligh Madris lined a double over the head of Jonathan Davis in center for the Pirates’ first hit.
Burnes finished the inning and then hit the showers having tied his career high for walks to go along with a seasonlow-tying five strikeouts.
“Obviously, having a lot of runs behind you is nice, but I have to do a better job of getting in the zone when I have that kind of lead,” Burnes said. “Walking four hitters in a game like that is unacceptable. It’s frustrating.
“I’ve been hit or miss with the cutter all year, so to go out there and walk four in a game like that is frustrating.”
Manager Craig Counsell saw the defending National League Cy Young Award winner’s start a little differently.
“He didn’t have his finishing pitches,” he said. “But having said all that, he only gave up one hit, so I’m not sure there’s a ton to criticize there.”
As for not allowing a hit until the sixth, Burnes indicated it was more happenstance than anything.
“I think that goes into the effectively wild category when you’re throwing the ball all over the place and they’re not going to swing,” he said.
“Then all of a sudden, you zero in for Strike 1, Strike 2 or Strike 3, or get some weak contact.
“As far as the results go, they look good. But underneath, we have a lot to work on.
The game turned nutty in the eighth when the Brewers sent a season-high 13 batters to the plate and scored eight runs, highlighted by an Adames grand slam.
All eight runs were scored off Cam Vieaux, who didn’t record an out until the 11th batter, Omar Narváez, came to the plate and lined out to center on the left-hander’s 48th pitch.
It was just the third time in franchise history the Brewers scored eight runs before recording an out. The last time was on Aug. 19, 1987, when they put up eight in the fourth against the Cleveland Indians.
Vieaux went on to throw 56 pitches in the inning, earning a big cheer from the crowd as he finally departed the mound.
Infielder Josh VanMeter took the mound for the ninth and was greeted by a Victor Caratini homer.
Mike Brosseau drove in the Brewers’ final run with a groundout and then pitched the ninth.