MILWAUKEE — Loud, powerful strikes do not happen often against Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes, as the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner takes immense pride in keeping opposing bats quiet. That much was evident when Burnes had an MLB-best 2.43 ERA in 28 starts last year and allowed a grand total of seven home runs.
It’s also why what happened to the Pirates on Tuesday probably hurts even more than it normally would. They had a couple of good swings against Burnes … yet still left American Family Field with nothing to show for their effort but more frustration and another loss.
Aside from two solo homers, Burnes silenced the Pirates and Milwaukee did enough damage early against JT Brubaker en route to a 5-2 victory, the second one in as many days here.
Daniel Vogelbach took Burnes deep in the sixth inning and Josh VanMeter hit another solo homer in the seventh, but it wasn't enough after Milwaukee rallied for four in the second and got a solo homer of its own when right fielder Hunter Renfroe homered on a hanging slider from Roansy Contreras in the seventh.
Burnes worked seven innings before giving way to Milwaukee's bullpen, allowing two earned runs on four hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts. Again aside from the two loud swings, he was absolutely dominant, with the right-hander racking up 17 whiffs and 23 called strikes.
What Burnes, who struck out 234 and walked just 34 a year ago, does well isn't complicated. He mixes a cutter with a curveball and has no problem attacking hitters; 73 of the 107 pitches he threw against the Pirates were strikes.
Vogelbach, who played in Milwaukee for part of 2020 and all of 2021, earned bragging rights over his former teammate. Until Vogelbach stepped to the plate in the top of the sixth, the Pirates had barely touched Burnes, mustering just a pair of singles and failing to advance a runner to second.
Hitting .350 in five games prior to Tuesday out of the leadoff spot, Vogelbach sat on a 2-2 sinker and blasted it 420 feet at 104.5 mph out to center field for his second home run of the season. It was also just the second Burnes has allowed this year.
VanMeter followed that with a two-out blast of his own, driving a cutter down and away over the fence in center for his first homer as a Pirate. VanMeter was hitting just .100 with no RBIs prior to Tuesday's game.
That second long ball was erased in the bottom half, as Renfroe connected on a Contreras breaking ball that missed its mark. The good news for Contreras, though, was that was all the damage he allowed.
Aside from the clear mistake, he settled down nicely and retired the other nine Brewers he faced, five via strikeout, further evidence that Contreras belongs at this level.
After Brubaker looked solid in the first, keeping the Pirates’ opponent off the scoreboard in the opening inning for just the fourth time in 11 games, he ran into issues in the second inning.
Brubaker walked Andrew McCutchen to start, and Rowdy Tellez sat on a 2-0 slider that was located middle-in. The swing Tellez took was powerful, and the Brewers first baseman made sure to admire his work, taking a long look at the 114.2-mph missile traveling 424 feet and landing in the second deck in right.
The Tellez homer gave Milwaukee a 2-0 lead, and the Brewers doubled that thanks to a couple Pirates miscues later in the inning.
Brubaker froze third baseman Jace Peterson with a terrific sinker on the corner for the second out of the inning, but Kevin Newman committed an error on a ball hit by the next batter, center fielder Lorenzo Cain, when he spun and threw wildly to first.
Catcher Victor Caratini walked before second baseman Kolten Wong broke his bat on an up-and-in fastball, the flare into right field going down as a double and scoring Cain and Caratini.
It was an odd start for Brubaker, who wound up working five innings and allowing four runs (two earned) on two hits and two walks with six strikeouts.
Outside of the four-run second, he produced four 1-2-3 innings. Brubaker’s pace was quicker than usual, and his sinker-slider combination was solid. Four of Brubaker’s six punchouts came with a Brewers hitter looking at strike three, an indication of how good his stuff was Tuesday.
