Brewers starter Corbin Burnes walked off the mound at American Family Field on Saturday, visibly frustrated at the end of arguably his worst start of the season.

Burnes had only gotten through four-plus innings, his shortest start of the season, and in the process gave up eight hits (tied for the most he’s allowed in a game in 2021) and four runs (tied for the second-most) and walked three Pirates batters (tied for the most). When manager Craig Counsell came to take the ball from Burnes, Pittsburgh had just loaded the bases before Burnes could record an out in the top of the fifth.

"It's just how baseball works,” left fielder Christian Yelich said. “It was kind of a weird start to the game today. A little bit of a bad-luck first inning for him. I mean, credit to them for putting the bat on the ball and making things happen.”

But like the Brewers had done for Burnes throughout their 7-4 win over the Pirates, reliever Trevor Richards picked him up.

Richards was the forgotten man in the trade that brought shortstop Willy Adames to Milwaukee at the end of May, but Richards had quietly put together a very efficient June. Not a single opposing batter reached base in his first three June outings, and in his last appearance on Thursday against the Reds, Richards struck out the side to end the game.

He picked up right where he left off on Saturday, getting Pittsburgh right fielder Gregory Polanco to flail at a four-seamer on the fifth pitch of the next at-bat for out No. 1. Four pitches later, shortstop Erik González couldn’t touch Richards’ four-seamer, either, and went down swinging for the second out.

It only took three more pitches for Richards to finish off the inning, throwing left fielder Ka’ai Tom two straight fastballs before getting him to swing through a changeup in the dirt to keep the lead at three.

“I think that’s the biggest spot he’s been in as a Brewer,” Burnes said. “To come out and punch those three guys out, those matchups were good for him. He’s got a good four-seamer he can throw over the top and a good changeup off it. He made those guys have some pretty ugly swings. Huge three punchouts to get out of that one.”

Richards may not have had the chance for his heroics had Milwaukee’s bullpen been fully rested. Counsell said middle-inning arms, including Brent Suter (two innings pitched on Thursday) and Hoby Milner (appearances in each of the last two days), were unavailable on Saturday, and he wanted to stay away from using Brad Boxberger to give him a couple days off in a row.

With Devin Williams and Josh Hader locked in as the setup man and closer, respectively, a multi-inning outing basically fell into Richards’ lap. And with a shutdown fifth followed by a rally-killing strikeout of Colin Moran to end the sixth, he delivered.

“It was a pretty easy choice,” Counsell said, “and we knew we were going to need two from Trevor if it was going to be a short start from Corbin today.”

“It just brings an opportunity to show what I can do,” Richards said. “I've kind of had up and down games so far early, but just to be able to go out there and win the game today. I mean, that was a big moment.”

Richards’ heroics came directly after Milwaukee put together its seventh five-run inning of the season and second in as many games. A bases-clearing double from Yelich gave the Brewers the lead, and catcher Omar Narváez capped the inning (and continued to stake his claim for an All-Star Game appearance) with an RBI single.

It was a game that could’ve easily gotten out of hand as the Pirates opened up a 4-0 lead in the second inning. But like a team with postseason aspirations should, when their starter wasn’t at his best, the rest of the Brewers answered the call.

“We probably owed Corbin one of those,” Counsell said.