Burnes bounces back for Brewers with best start yet

PHOENIX -- The Brewers have all the tools to be one of the best teams in baseball. A lineup that is averaging almost seven runs per game across their eight wins. A lights-out bullpen that has tossed 27 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings, the longest streak in baseball. A seasoned skipper in Craig Counsell, who has shown his commitment to Milwaukee by managing the most games in franchise history (1,181).

The only piece of the puzzle that was missing in the Brewers' hot start was a dominant performance by their ace, Corbin Burnes. But that changed in a 7-1 win over the D-backs Tuesday night at Chase Field. Burnes responded loudly to his tough outings with a performance reminiscent of his 2021 NL Cy Young campaign, striking out eight and issuing no walks over eight scoreless innings.

“That's as good as a start as Corbin has had in the big leagues,” Counsell said. “I thought he was just awesome tonight, just from really the first sequence of the game, the first inning of the game, he was locked in. He carried it through eight strong innings. So, great performance tonight.

“What else do you expect from Corbin?”

You can expect him to use a calm, cool and collected mindset to figure out his woes. The 28-year-old right-hander didn’t feel the pressure creeping up on him after two tough outings early in the season.

“It’s about not hitting the panic button,” Burnes said. “It’s very easy to start to panic and start looking at things and dig into stuff that’s not there. For me, it was take a brief look at mechanics, take a brief look at the movement. Everything was there, so it’s just getting up there and competing and being aggressive and having the right mindset. It didn't have anything to do with what we worked on in bullpens or anything else. It was just straight working on the mindset and being a little better mentally out there. That made a huge difference tonight.”

His dominance kept the Brewers alive in the ballgame. Burnes’ performance was matched by D-backs starter Merrill Kelly, who held Milwaukee hitless through six innings.

The momentum of the game changed on one swing: a 416-foot solo home run from Willy Adames that provided a jolt of energy to Milwaukee’s offense. The Brewers added four more runs in the seventh inning, anchored by a two-run double by Mike Brosseau. By the time Burnes came out for the seventh inning, his pitch count was at 67.

The spark on offense gave Burnes more confidence to return to the mound and finish the job, but equally, the Brewers were energized by seeing their ace back in vintage form.

“This is what great players do. They give your team a boost,” Counsell said. “That's why you can't wait for Corbin to start every time around, no matter what's going on. And you don't say you expect it, but it was fun to watch him tonight. It was really fun to watch. It was like I said after the first day, you just kind of have this feeling that he's locked in and it's going to be a good one.”

Milwaukee capped off the night with home runs from Rowdy Tellez and Brosseau, who is seeing more playing time while Jesse Winker is sidelined with an illness. The Brewers continued their hot start by improving to 8-3 and will look to keep the momentum going through the end of this 10-game road trip.

“We've got to keep playing good baseball,” Burnes said. “We've got to hit the ball while we play great defense. These young guys play hard. So I think as long as we got these young guys out there feeding us that energy, and these guys that have been around for a while just feed off it and do something well, we’ll be all right.”