MILWAUKEE -- Corbin Burnes didn’t have his best pitching line in Tuesday’s 7-4 win over the Reds, but the right-hander drew high praise from one of Cincinnati’s veterans after touching triple digits on the stadium radar gun.

"He threw me one of the nastiest pitches I've ever seen,” said Tucker Barnhart, a 30-year-old catcher in his eighth big league season. “I was giving him hell.”

It was the final pitch of Barnhart’s first at-bat in the second inning, a 99.8 mph sinker on the inside corner for a called third strike. It was the hardest pitch of Burnes’ career and the hardest thrown by a Brewer this season, eclipsing Josh Hader’s 99.6 mph four-seamer on Opening Day.

Barnhart’s reaction made Brewers manager Craig Counsell glance up at the American Family Field scoreboard, where he saw "100" in lights. It may have been the highlight of the night for Burnes, who was charged with four runs, all earned, on seven hits and three walks in six innings. He struck out five, including Barnhart with that eye-opening heater.

“I didn't see it,” Burnes said. “I think it shocked Counsell more than anyone. I came in and he was kind of like, 'Hey, did anyone see that?' It was the first time in my career I ever hit it, so that was cool.

“As far as how I felt, everything felt good. The command with the cutter was pretty poor. That's two starts in a row now that the cutter command hasn't been there, so when your go-to pitch to get into a count is not there and you're trying to throw from behind in the count all night, it's tough. Obviously, the walks killed me, but you're trying to pitch from 2-0, 3-1 all night, it's tough to do.”

Said Counsell: “I thought Corbin almost felt too good yesterday. I think that was a little bit of it. I think that can happen sometimes with a pitcher, you're almost feeling too good and that fatigue kind of locks you in a little bit. Corbin throws hard, but we've never seen him do that. I've never seen him do that.”

Barnhart had a few friendly words for Burnes.

“I told him, ‘Ninety-nine inside would've been OK, but did you really have to hit 100?’” Barnhart said. “He said, 'Yeah, it's the first time I've hit 100 in my life.' I said, 'Oh, and to little old me? Why did you have to do it to me?'"

Burnes led all MLB qualifiers at 5.9 fWAR and with 12.18 strikeouts per nine innings going into Wednesday’s games and was third in the Majors and second in the National League with a 2.30 ERA (the Dodgers’ Walker Buehler leads MLB with a 2.11 ERA).

“He’s a guy I enjoy facing, not because I've had success by any means, but because it's such a challenge,” Barnhart said. “He's obviously one of the best pitchers in our league. It's a grind from the first pitch.”

Peterson unsung hero
The local chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America annually hands out an “Unsung Hero Award” to a Brewers player, and with apologies to reliever Brad Boxberger, is there a more deserving front-runner at this point than utility man Jace Peterson?

Recent injuries to Tyrone Taylor (oblique), Eduardo Escobar (hamstring) and Willy Adames (quadriceps) have elevated Peterson’s role again, just as was the case when Travis Shaw and Daniel Vogelbach went down in June, or when Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain were dealing with injuries in April and May. Peterson has started games at first base, second base, third base, left field and right field this season, and is one of six players with at least 100 plate appearances in a Brewers uniform this season and an OPS north of .800.

“He's one of those players, when a team has a good season, it's a kind of player you need to have,” Counsell said. “Jace has been able to fill in, he's been able to produce without having regular everyday at-bats. That's the thing we don't give him credit for. [Playing time] has been sporadic at times. We've sent him down, he went on the COVID list, he came back and was productive again. That's the ability and the trait you really appreciate.”

Last call
• The Brewers are listing Eric Lauer, Adrian Houser and “TBD” as their scheduled starters in the upcoming three-game series at Minnesota. The series finale could be another Aaron Ashby start if he’s not needed out of the bullpen in the days leading to Sunday.

• Triple-A Nashville Sounds broadcaster Jeff Hem noted that the club is listing left-hander Ethan Small as its scheduled starter for Saturday night against Gwinnett. Small, coming back from a finger injury, has not pitched for the Sounds since before he appeared in the All-Star Futures Game.