Burnes 'ready to get going' after final Cactus League start

PEORIA, Ariz. -- It takes only a passing glance at the box scores to see that the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner is ready for the regular season.

Corbin Burnes made three Cactus League starts. In the first, on March 23 against the Reds, he was charged with five runs on five hits in three innings. Over the next two, on March 28 against the Giants and in Saturday’s 4-3 Brewers loss at the Mariners, Burnes discovered his cutter and allowed two runs on three hits in 11 innings, with one walk and 14 strikeouts.

All told, Burnes struck out 19 batters in 14 innings of spring “A” games. It looked a lot like 2021 all over again.

“We’re in a good spot,” said Burnes, scheduled to start Milwaukee’s April 7 opener against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. “We were able to work on a couple of things today, knowing we had the ‘feel’ we wanted going into Opening Day.”

The only blemish was a Tom Murphy home run leading off the third inning, snapping Burnes’ six up, six down to start the game. Five of his six strikeouts came against the final eight batters.

“He really got locked in,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “It couldn’t have gone better, I guess is the way I’d say it.”

Said Burnes: “We’re coming into Opening Day healthy with the pitch count we want, and ready to get going.”

That pitch count exceeded 80 against the Mariners, lower than a typical top-out for a starting pitcher in Spring Training. That’s the result of a shortened camp, and Burnes acknowledged that teams are likely to be particularly careful with their starters in the early going.

The roster rules allow for additional caution; teams may carry 28 players on Opening Day through May 1, two more than usual and with no limitation on the number of pitchers.

“Obviously they’re going to keep building us up. They’re not going to let us go out there for 100-120 [pitches],” Burnes said. “But with the DH this year, it’s different baseball. I would expect that I could get close to 100 in this one. I think it’s more about ‘ups’ [the number of times a pitcher gets up for a new inning]. I’ve only been ‘up’ six times. I think that’s going to be something they continue to build.”

Relievers checking final boxes

When relief pitchers are working back-to-back days, you know Opening Day is close. The latest Brewers reliever to check that box was Devin Williams, which explains why he exited after recording only the first two outs of the seventh inning on Saturday. For Williams, it was the second of consecutive appearances and the plan was to face three batters.

"I'm very pleased with where he's at," Counsell said. "He's throwing the ball really well. Most of all, his fastball has been really good."

Ureña scheduled to pitch

The Brewers expect to get their first and only Cactus League look at bullpen candidate José Ureña on Sunday when the Rangers visit American Family Fields of Phoenix. He’s one of the relievers scheduled to follow Brandon Woodruff in Woodruff’s final tuneup for a scheduled start in Game 2 of the regular season at the Cubs.

Ureña, a right-hander who has started and relieved for the Marlins and Tigers, is out of Minor League options, so the Brewers would be forced to make a quick decision if he’s healthy. He signed with Milwaukee on Tuesday and was selected to the 40-man roster the next day after waiting in limbo for a few days while his contract was finalized. Before that, Ureña threw weekly simulated games in the Dominican Republic.

The Brewers already told veteran Trevor Gott that he made a bullpen also expected to include Josh Hader, Devin Williams, Brad Boxberger, Williams, Jake Cousins and Aaron Ashby. Ureña is the only candidate for the remaining spots who is out of options.