More quality from Burnes sets stage for Woodruff's return

MILWAUKEE -- Corbin Burnes started Saturday night at American Family Field.

Brandon Woodruff will start Sunday.

For the Brewers, seeing those names in succession is a significant development -- and a walk-off win was a satisfying way to start the weekend.

Burnes grinded through his seventh consecutive quality start, then waited for the Brewers to tie the game in the ninth inning with Blake Perkins’ daring baserunning ahead of Sal Frelick’s tying hit, before they beat the Pirates in the 10th, 3-2, on Perkins’ RBI single with two outs.

The Brewers’ first victory in a game they trailed after eight innings -- they’d been 0-for-47 in that situation before rallying against Pittsburgh’s All-Star closer, David Bednar -- meant that Woodruff will step on the mound Sunday for his first Major League start in four months with Milwaukee 1 1/2 games ahead of second-place Cincinnati in the NL Central standings.

The Brewers have 50 regular-season games to go.

“It's huge. Everyone likes to tell you, ‘Oh it's like picking up a trade accusation, getting [Woodruff] back,’” Burnes said. “Just getting that lift to the rotation will be great.”

It will be Woodruff’s first Major League start since April 7, and a reunion of sorts for co-aces who are used to starting back-to-back games for the Brewers. While Woodruff completed his rehab from a strained muscle behind his pitching shoulder, Burnes has been delivering his best stretch of the season, winning NL Pitcher of the Month for July after delivering a 1.85 ERA in six starts. With only two hits allowed on Saturday -- the most costly a two-run double for Pirates nine-hole hitter Jason Delay in the fifth inning -- opponents are hitting .113 against Burnes during his run of seven straight quality starts.

Despite struggling to command his signature cutter against the Pirates, Burnes cruised into the fifth inning without allowing a hit. He had two outs, an 0-1 count on Liover Peguero and the no-hitter intact in that inning before Peguero lined a clean single. After he stole second and Alika Williams walked, Delay jumped on a first-pitch cutter for a double to the left-center-field gap and the game’s first two runs.

In the sixth, Burnes issued two more walks, including to Alfonso Rivas with two outs, and it appeared his night was through. But after approaching the mound and patting Burnes on the chest, manager Craig Counsell left his starter in, and Burnes responded by striking out Ke’Bryan Hayes to finish the outing at 107 pitches, his second-highest total this season.

“[Counsell] just came out and I told him I had them, let me have the ball,” Burnes said. “It wasn't pretty but I got him. I appreciate the trust.”

Said Counsell: “I just wanted to see what he looked like and to have a short conversation with him. I don’t like taking Corbin out. If he’s got gas in the tank, he’s going.”

All that lacked for Burnes was run support. The Brewers cut the deficit in half with Christian Yelich’s run-scoring groundout in the fifth, but that came amid a stretch of 12 up, 12 down from the fifth inning through the end of the eighth.

Carlos Santana snapped that streak with a single leading off the ninth and was replaced by pinch-runner Perkins, who tagged up and narrowly reached second on Willy Adames’ fly out to put the tying runner in scoring position for the rookie Frelick to come through. Frelick has eight hits in his first 20 at-bats at American Family Field.

“It’s like a version of a stolen base, really,” Counsell said of Perkins’ dash for second. “That’s what baserunning is, it’s risk. Good baserunning involves risk.”

“Just trusting the read I got, trusting my speed,” Perkins said. “Making him make a perfect throw, pretty much. It is very risky, but I feel like in that situation that’s my job -- to create something on the basepaths. I’m glad I was safe.”

An inning later, Perkins delivered the game-winner.

“It's nice to get the win after we scuffled there for eight innings,” Burnes said. “For Sal to come up, get a big knock and Perkins to do it there in extra innings is big. It's not from ‘Yeli’ or some of the other big guys that have been hot. It's good to see some other guys get some big knocks and contribute when we need them to.”

Now, Burnes gets to watch as Woodruff tries to deliver a quality outing of his own. He said last week he expects to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 75-80 pitches to work with.

“I’m excited for Brandon,” Counsell said. “That’s the biggest thing, I’m just excited for him to be out there again. He’s spent three-plus months watching, and that’s no fun.”