BALTIMORE — Milwaukee’s offensive tear finally ran into a roadblock in the form of the
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Some of those jams were self-inflicted — a throwing error by Burnes led to an unearned run in the fourth — but the Brewers couldn’t produce a big inning against the right-hander after scoring 11 runs in each of the first two games in Baltimore. Milwaukee tied a franchise record by scoring at least seven runs in six straight games before that streak ended Sunday.
The Brewers traded Burnes to the Orioles in the offseason for left-hander DL Hall and infielder Joey Ortiz. William Contreras greeted Burnes with a homer to center field leading off the game, and Rhys Hoskins followed with a double. Then the right-hander set down six in a row.
With the Orioles ahead 2-1, Blake Perkins led off the third with a single and then moved to second on a balk when Burnes committed a disengagement violation.
“Perkins is a guy that’s going to steal a lot of bags,” Burnes said. “Always gets a big lead. Had I made a couple better pickoff throws, we could have got him.”
With men on first and third and two out, Sal Frelick took off running toward second on a pitch to Willy Adames, and when catcher Adley Rutschman threw to second, Perkins dashed home. The Orioles caught Frelick in a rundown and tagged him out, but the run scored on the fielder’s choice.
With Baltimore up 3-2 in the fourth, Burnes allowed a single and a walk starting the inning, then fielded Brice Turang‘s bunt and threw wildly to first. The play was ruled an infield single and an error, with a run coming home and runners ending up at second and third. A popup and two strikeouts got Burnes out of that with no further scoring.
Milwaukee stole two bases in the fifth but didn’t score. With a man on third and one out, shortstop Gunnar Henderson fielded a grounder and threw home to retire Contreras. Burnes exited the game after that inning, having thrown 98 pitches.
