Pirates

Burnes Leads The Way For Brewers in 5-2 Win Over Pirates

Published

2 years ago

April 19, 2022

The Pirates faced a tall task against the Brewers and reigning Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes on Tuesday night in Milwaukee. The Pirates hit a pair of solo shots off of Burnes, but he sure showcased why he won the award and helped the Brewers defeat the Bucs 5-2.

For most of his outing, Burnes was just about untouchable. That was until Daniel Vogelbach homerun stepped up to the plate in the sixth and hit a shot over the center field wall, Vogelbach’s second of this year for the Pirates.

VogelBACH in Milwaukee pic.twitter.com/yauPEKYiiX

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 20, 2022

Josh VanMeter took Burnes deep in the seventh on pitch No. 102 for his first Pirate home run, cutting the deficit in half. It was VanMeter’s second hit of the night.

VanMeter goes yard. pic.twitter.com/Ja22dA2Ufo

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 20, 2022

Outside of the two solo shots, the Pirates had just a pair of singles off of Burnes, one from VanMeter and the other from Kevin Newman, and only had a runner in scoring position once. Burnes’ final line read seven innings, four hits, two runs, no walks and 10 strikeouts.

JT Brubaker got the start for the Pirates and found himself in some trouble in the second. After issuing a free pass to Andrew McCutchen, he left a 2-0 slider over the heart of the plate that Rowdy Tellez crushed over the right field fence. Later in the inning, Newman was charged with a throwing error on a tough play and Brubaker issued another free pass. Kolten Wong then hit a broken-bat double that plated both runners, giving Milwaukee a 4-0 lead.

After the Wong double, Brubaker settled in and retired the next 10 Brewers batters in a row, four of those 10 via punch outs. Brubaker only allowed two hits and two walks in his five innings of worked and picked up six strikeouts.

Hunter Renfroe took Roansy Contreras deep in the seventh after the Bucs right-hander left a slider over the middle of the plate. Other than that, Contreras looked pretty effective again out of the Pirates bullpen and picked up five strikeouts in his three innings of work. He lowered his ERA to 3.52 on the night.

The Bucs and Brew Crew will close out this three-game series on Wednesday afternoon. Mitch Keller (0-2, 9.39 ERA) will look for a bounce-back outing against Brandon Woodruff (1-1, 7.27 ERA).

Takeaways:

All It Takes Is One: Similarly to his first two starts of the year, it was one rough inning again for Brubaker. Although he was only charged with two earned runs in the second, the Brewers crossed home plate four times in the inning. Outside of that, he was virtually untouchable in this one. In his last start against the Nationals, Washington put up a three spot against him in the first, and the Cardinals also struck for three runs, there’s coming in the second inning on Opening Day.
Once In Three Years: That was the first time Burnes allowed multiple home runs in a game since May 17, 2019 against the Atlanta Braves. It’s easy to see why Burnes won the Cy Young a year ago. He rarely allows the long ball, he doesn’t allow many base hits and issues very few free passes. His deep arsenal consists of multiple swing-and-miss pitches. I’m sure the Pirates would have liked to have the home runs come with some runners on base.
Shake It Off: I was curious to see how the young Contreras would respond after allowing the home run to Renfroe, a blast that left him visibly upset him on the mound. Safe to say, I was impressed. Contreras struck out Jace Pederson, got Lorenzo Cain to lineout to Ke’Bryan Hayes and then struck out Victor Caratini. It looked like Contreras finished the inning with a little extra fire in his eyes which was good to see from the 22-year-old. At this point, I’d like to see Contreras get an opportunity to make a start for the Pirates.