Corbin Burnes, Willy Adames entered season finale chasing significant personal achievements. How did they do?

While the die has already been cast on the Milwaukee Brewers' 2022 season, there were still a couple players in the lineup for the season finale with significant personal milestones on the line.

Starter Corbin Burnes entered Wednesday's matinee against the Arizona Diamondbacks at American Family Field needing to pitch only one inning to reach the coveted 200-inning mark for the first time in his career.

He stayed in the game for three before handing the ball off to Aaron Ashby in an eventual 4-2 loss.

"Every starting pitcher, that’s a standard that they really want to try to achieve," manager Craig Counsell said. "I think it represents a lot of things. It represents consistency. It represents availability."

Burnes credited those who work closest with him for what he's accomplished.

"For me, the main thing is health," he said. "Making 33 starts this year, going over 200 innings, that’s just attributable to me being healthy, sticking to the routine between outings.

"The strength staff, training staff, helping me with recovery between starts. Yeah, it’s 200 innings, but it’s more about the staff and people around me who helped me get to that point."

The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, Burnes won't repeat this season with Miami's Sandy Alcantara appearing to be the runaway favorite.

Even still, Burnes will make his mark yet again in the franchise annals by becoming the first Brewers pitcher to ever lead the league — NL or AL — in strikeouts.

He entered Wednesday with a career-best 238, with only Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees (257) having recorded more in the major leagues, and tacked five more onto his total to finish 243.

That performance allowed him to pass Teddy Higuera (240) for the second-most strikeouts in a single season in franchise history. Only Ben Sheets (264 in 2004) had more.

"That’s not something I strive for," Burnes said. "Going for results is something that’s secondary. For me it’s about going out, executing pitches, having fun and having a chance to win.

"The fact we were able to lead in strikeouts is pretty cool, but not something I’m setting out to do."

Adames just misses 100 RBI

Then there was shortstop Willy Adames, who entered the day needing two runs batted in to reach 100 for the first time in his career.

He singled twice but failed to add to his RBI total.

Adames indicated the century mark didn't hold much meaning for him now anyway considering the Brewers have been eliminated from postseason contention — something he demonstrated Tuesday by ceding his spot as starting shortstop to Luis Urías for the first time since June 22.

That snapped a streak of 89 consecutive games started for Adames.

"If those two RBI gave a win to clinch, yes (it would mean more)," he said before the game. "But right now, if I get it, cool. If not, I’m cool with that."

Adames, who set a goal early in the season of playing all 162 games, saw that dream go out the window when he missed 20 games from late May into June.

He finishes with 138 starts (135 at shortstop and two at designated hitter) and 139 games played. Adames set career highs with 152 games played and 145 starts at shortstop in 2019 with the Tampa Bay Rays.

"He’s been a rock for us, he really has," Counsell said. "I don’t know what it was, but he was in there every day for 7-8 weeks, and it’s been impressive. No signs to me that – you go through the ups and downs hitting-wise – but I kind of look at the defense a lot, and the concentration.

"You get tired concentrating on every pitch, and he's been so good defensively (10 outs above average, which is best on the Brewers and 20th-best in the majors at any position). That’s one of the things that I look at. He’s maintained that high level of concentration in the field really, really well."

Peter Strzelecki impresses for the Brewers, makes 'special' impact

Last season, it was Jake Cousins who emerged from relative anonymity to make his major-league debut and pitch high-leverage innings out of the bullpen.

This season, it was Peter Strzelecki, an undrafted free agent who in four separate stints with the Brewers went 2-1 with a 2.83 ERA in 30 appearances, 40 strikeouts in 35 innings and four holds.

"We haven’t talked about Peter a lot, but the impact that he’s made in the last six weeks of this season has been really special," Counsell said. "You talk to those guys down there and they love him. He’s a connector type of kid and he’s pitched really well and he’s taken the ball a whole bunch and been effective for a rookie, a young (pitcher) with very little experience.

"He handles every situation really, really well. He’s been our biggest surprise, definitely, on the pitching side of the ball, for sure. I don’t think he got in a spring-training game. Where he started this year and where he’s finishing this year, I’m really proud of him and really happy for him."

Strzelecki also accomplished a big personal first Tuesday by retiring the Diamondbacks in order in the ninth to lock down his first major-league save.

"It was always on my mind," the Queens, N.Y., native said when asked if he ever doubted he could compete in the majors. "I always had the confidence. It was just about getting an opportunity and just showing everybody I could do this.

"I knew I could do this."

Just how far off the radar screen was Strzelecki, who will turn 28 on Oct. 24, heading into spring training?

He never even pitched in a Cactus League game for the Brewers, a factoid Counsell noted.

Safe to say, he'll be receiving an invitation for 2023 sometime this offseason.

"I mean, it’d be cool to go to my first big-league camp," he said, matter-of-factly. "Hopefully I’m invited to that."

Jace Peterson would love to return to Brewers in free agency 

When Jace Peterson signed a minor-league contract with the Brewers in 2019, how many expected him to spend three seasons with the team and grow to play a prominent role?

Not too many.

That Peterson revitalized his career in his age-30 season while with his fifth big-league club in 2020 and maintained that level for three seasons with Milwaukee is a testament to him.

As the 2022 regular season wound to a close Wednesday, Peterson was batting .239/.320/.387, with an OPS of .707, putting him slightly above league-average in that category.

He hit a career-high eight home runs and stole 12 bases in what was a career-best season by all counts as he nearly more than doubled his career Wins Above Replacement up until 2022 in one year (2.4 WAR this year after 1.3 coming in).

Peterson now is set to become a free agent at season’s end, one of a handful of expiring player deals the team has.

Of that group, which includes Omar Narváez, Taylor Rogers, Andrew McCutchen and potentially Kolten Wong and Brad Boxberger, Peterson is one of the more likely candidates to return considering his expected cost relative to his value provided.

Whether or not that happens is to be seen, but Peterson indicated Wednesday he would love to return.

“For sure,” Peterson said. “I love the fact that we have unfinished business. We’ll see what happens.”

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers' Corbin Burnes finishes as NL strikeout leader