Perrotto: A Night of Growing Pains for Mike Burrows

PITTSBURGH – Not every pitcher is going to come up from the minor leagues and dominate.

Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes has spoiled us all over the last two seasons by doing that. Pitchers like him don’t come around very often.

Most rookie pitchers are going to be like the Pirates’ Mike Burrows. Sometimes, they’ll be good. Other times, they will not.

That’s why the Pirates will have to live with nights like Friday, when the 25-year-old Burrows wasn’t good, taking the loss as the Texas Rangers notched a 6-2 victory in the opener of a three-game series at PNC Park.

Burrows (1-2) allowed four runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings while striking out four and walking one. His ERA rose from 4.24 to 4.82 through six starts since making his season debut on May 22.

“Not every start you’re going to have your best stuff,’” Burrows said. “So, was trying to make do with what I had today and execute to the best ability I had today and make pitches and get outs.”

That didn’t work out for Burrows, and it’s not surprising. He has pitched just 31 innings in the major leagues and is still learning.

Though he is young, Burrows is wise enough to know that he is going to have to go through growing pains to become a good big-league starting pitcher.

“I think going through it is the learning process,” Burrows said. “You’re going to have outings like that. Not every single outing you’re going to come out and feel like you have everything that day. So just kind of going through it is the experience itself. I think maybe taking a couple more deep breaths and trying to focus on what I can control and getting the ball where I need to would be the lesson today.”

The Rangers ambushed Burrows during the first inning. The Pirates’ defense didn’t give him any help.

Josh Smith led off with a single, and Sam Haggerty followed with a single to center field. When Oneil Cruz let the ball get by him for an error, then stood with hands on his hips rather than chasing it, Smith raced home, and Haggerty wound up on third base.

Haggerty then scored on a wild pitch. The Rangers had an instant 2-0 lead and never trailed in sending the Pirates to their sixth loss in their last eight games.

Burrows didn’t make excuses.

“I think most of the time I do pretty well just controlling the controllables,” Burrows said. “Once it leaves your hand, pretty much everything’s out of your control.”

Burrows then gave up solo home runs to Adolis Garcia in the fourth inning and Corey Seager in the fifth. That put the Rangers ahead 4-2 and ended Burrows’ night.

Burrows has yet to get through six innings to get credited with a quality start in the majors. However, he allowed just three runs in 15 innings in his previous three starts in June.

“He continues to get better,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “We talk about slowing the game with him.”

However, the game sped up on Burrows on Friday night, and he never really slowed it down. Call it a teachable moment.

It happens with all young pitchers, except for those with superpowers.