Corbin Burnes bitten by one inning, just like in last year's season opener
CHICAGO — The 2023 season began almost exactly as 2022 did for the Milwaukee Brewers, in low-40-degree weather at Wrigley Field in Chicago, with the Cubs pulling out a win and Corbin Burnes enduring a so-so start featuring one big inning.
Burnes allowed all four runs in the third inning of the 4-0 loss Thursday in the season opener, and though iffy defense played a prominent role in the Cubs' outburst, Burnes acknowledged he didn't have his best stuff. He finished five innings of work, allowing four runs on four singles, three walks and a hit batsman, with three strikeouts. The strikeout total tied a career low.
"I was proud I was able to get outs early on, because we knew they were gonna be swinging," Burnes said. "In that third inning, they shortened up, put the ball in play, got a couple singles there, got a lead going, and I just didn't do a good enough job of making enough pitches to get out of that, hold them to one or two. I let it spiral and that led to a big inning that cost us the game."
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It was eerily similar to Burnes' first start last year at Wrigley on opening day, when he allowed three earned runs on four hits with three walks in five innings. The Cubs scored three times in the fifth and went on to win, 5-4. Burnes threw 83 pitches (48 strikes) in that contest, compared to the 87 (55 strikes) from the 2023 opener.
Burnes only generated nine swings and misses from Cubs batters in his five innings, one better than his season low of 2022.
"Their offense is kind of meant to put the ball in play," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "I half-expected that, really (that he'd have a low strikeout total). It was a day where offense was going to be difficult, as you get many days (like that) early in the season. The walks kind of early hurt us a little bit and they put the ball in play in the right spot."
All nine Cubs batters stepped to the plate in the third. After a leadoff walk by Patrick Wisdom and a fielder's choice, Nico Hoerner's single just outside the reach of first baseman Rowdy Tellez put runners at the corners with one out. Dansby Swanson then singled in one run, and another scored when Willy Adames threw the relay away trying to catch Swanson too far off first base. Tellez got to the baseball seemingly with time to make a throw but held it, and Chicago had a 2-0 lead.
A walk, strikeout and RBI single from Trey Mancini followed. With two down, Adames tried to run over and tap the bag for a force at second base instead of throwing to first, but he was late, and a fourth run crossed on the play.
"They just did a good job (second) time through kind of changing their approach a little bit and punching the ball around and getting it in play and making things happen," Burnes said.
If the 2022 parallel holds, that's good news for the Brewers. Burnes allowed no runs on three hits with eight strikeouts in his second outing of the year last year, then proceeded to deliver three straight double-digit strikeout performances. By year's end, he had a 2.94 ERA over 202 innings of work, with 243 strikeouts and Cy Young votes attached.
He only had five outings in 2022 allowing zero extra-base hits, but now he has one to kick off 2023.
"The thing that kind of saved us today was the slider," Burnes said. "Outside of that, the cutter was kind of hit and miss. The curveball was decent, I didn't throw it a ton. The changeup was all right. Sinker wasn't great. Overall, it's tough to go out with one pitch that feels good, so we've got some work to do over the next four or five days."
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Corbin Burnes has opening-day déjà vu with one bad inning vs. Cubs
