BALTIMORE — Milwaukee’s offensive tear finally ran into a roadblock in the form of the Brewers‘ former ace.
Not that Corbin Burnes had it easy.
Burnes allowed a home run to the first batter of the game, and Baltimore‘s new star pitcher left after five innings Sunday against the Brewers. He allowed three runs along with six hits and two walks, but he struck out five and pitched out of trouble on multiple occasions. The Orioles ultimately won 6-4.
“I’ve done a great job of giving up runs in the first inning,” Burnes said. “Didn’t execute anything real well, so it was definitely having to grind through it. Made some big pitches, got out of some jams. Also gifted them a couple runs.”
Some of those jams were self-inflicted — a throwing error by Burnes led to an unearned run in the fourth — but the Brewers couldn’t produce a big inning against the right-hander after scoring 11 runs in each of the first two games in Baltimore. Milwaukee tied a franchise record by scoring at least seven runs in six straight games before that streak ended Sunday.
The Brewers traded Burnes to the Orioles in the offseason for left-hander DL Hall and infielder Joey Ortiz. William Contreras greeted Burnes with a homer to center field leading off the game, and Rhys Hoskins followed with a double. Then the right-hander set down six in a row.
With the Orioles ahead 2-1, Blake Perkins led off the third with a single and then moved to second on a balk when Burnes committed a disengagement violation.
“Perkins is a guy that’s going to steal a lot of bags,” Burnes said. “Always gets a big lead. Had I made a couple better pickoff throws, we could have got him.”
With men on first and third and two out, Sal Frelick took off running toward second on a pitch to Willy Adames, and when catcher Adley Rutschman threw to second, Perkins dashed home. The Orioles caught Frelick in a rundown and tagged him out, but the run scored on the fielder’s choice.
With Baltimore up 3-2 in the fourth, Burnes allowed a single and a walk starting the inning, then fielded Brice Turang‘s bunt and threw wildly to first. The play was ruled an infield single and an error, with a run coming home and runners ending up at second and third. A popup and two strikeouts got Burnes out of that with no further scoring.
Milwaukee stole two bases in the fifth but didn’t score. With a man on third and one out, shortstop Gunnar Henderson fielded a grounder and threw home to retire Contreras. Burnes exited the game after that inning, having thrown 98 pitches.