Corbin Burnes said he has the edge over every lineup, but his first start against the Brewers was an even match

BALTIMORE – Prior to his first start against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday, Baltimore Orioles pitcher Corbin Burnes was asked if he had the advantage pitching against his former team.

“I would say I have an advantage over every lineup,” Burnes said.

The numbers would probably back him on that. Since 2020, he’s been arguably the best starting pitcher in baseball, sporting a 2.84 earned run average while striking out 785 batters in 641 innings coming into the day.

But on his second pitch against his old teammates Sunday, William Contreras, who caught hundreds of cutters from Burnes last season, jumped all over Burnes’ trademark pitch, sending it 420 feet out to dead center for a leadoff home run.

So, Contreras was asked, what about now? Does Burnes still have an advantage over you?

“I don’t know. I got him the first time, he struck me out the second time,” Contreras said. “He’s Corbin Burnes. He’s a Cy Young pitcher. He’s really good.”

No advantage for Burnes nor the Brewers on this day

The Orioles went onto rally late for a 6-4 win to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Brewers, but the advantage game between the two sides on this afternoon was more of a wash.

Milwaukee made Burnes work for every strike and every out for five innings, peppering the bases with runners and mixing in hard contact with aggression on the bases. In all, the Brewers had six hits and drew a pair of walks during Burnes’ five innings, elevating his pitch count and forcing him to throw 98 pitches.

But they could never deliver a big blow. Burnes ultimately allowed three runs but held the Brewers to just 2 for 16 with runners on base.

“Whenever you’re trying to face a number one, you try to do everything you can to pester him and get him off his game,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “I don’t know that we did that. He still kept us to three runs. He made some big pitches in some big times, he really did.”

Murphy’s team did throw Burnes off his game at least somewhat.

In the third inning, Blake Perkins led off with a smash single up the middle. Burnes then tried to pick him off three times, with the unsuccessful third disengagement from the rubber leading to an automatic balk. Perkins then moved to third on Sal Frelick’s infield single and scored without a play at the plate when Murphy called for a double steal and catcher Adley Rutschman threw down to second base.

“In my mind, that’s a gift,” Burnes said. “We not only fell behind 2-0 (in the count) and gave Perkins a hit, but then you give him a base. Then the double steal home, that’s what they’re trying to do.”

More small ball from Brice Turang gave the Brewers a third run and tied the game in the fourth. After Willy Adames singled and Gary Sanchez walked to open the inning, Turang laid down a bunt and beat the throw, which skipped away from first baseman Ryan Mountcastle and up the right-field line.

Adames scored from second and the Brewers were suddenly cooking with runners on second and third with no outs.

Burnes was able to make key pitches when he needed to

Burnes, as he wont to do, buckled down. He got Joey Ortiz to pop up and struck out Joey Wiemer and Perkins to escape with no more damage.

“He had second and third and nobody out and could’ve folded, but he gave his team a chance to win with popout, strikeout, strikeout,” Murphy said. “I don’t think we beat him. We had a chance to put it away and we didn’t . It’s a credit to him.”

Burnes still featured the same nasty arsenal from his six years in Milwaukee, but nonetheless looked like a bit of a different pitcher Sunday. After Contreras took him deep on a cutter, he largely diminished its usage, especially against right-handers.

Burnes ended up throwing 42% cutters but was primarily sinker-curveball against righties, throwing them a combined 49 times.

“He threw me a couple (cutters) today and then he started to change everything,” Contreras said. “He started to throw the sinker and the curveball more. He changed everything from the first inning when I hit a homer. He started to throw the curve down to mix with his sinker.”

Murphy also made note of a change Burnes has made to his general attack plan this year.

“He’s a little more north-south now. He was more east-west before,” Murphy said before the game. “I think that’s a change he needed to make. His sequencing is a little bit different. Credit to him. He keeps making adjustments.”

Now that their first showdown is over, Contreras said he might shoot Burnes a text to remind him he took him deep. This is life post-Burnes, which has been mostly successful so far at 10-4 through five series, but there’s no doubt that the clubhouse misses his arm and presence.

“Corbin, we respect him greatly,” Murphy said. “He was a huge part of this organization. He’s done so much for us. He’s done so much for us. Great pitcher, as evidenced by the players we got back for him. No doubt about it.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Orioles Corbin Burnes makes first start against Brewers, his old team