Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Corbin Burnes has looked every bit the $210 million man recently.
Burnes will bring a streak of four consecutive quality starts into the second game of the Diamondbacks’ three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday in Phoenix.
Pirates right-hander Mike Burrows (0-1, 7.20 ERA) will make his second career start.
The Diamondbacks broke a season-worst five-game losing streak in the opener, a 5-0 victory behind Ryne Nelson, who threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings in his third and longest start of the year.
“It was nice to get back out there, and most importantly to get the win for the team,” Nelson said.
The Pirates are 7-10 under interim manager Don Kelly. Before dropping their past two games, they were in their best stretch of the season — four victories in five contests.
“It’s been good,” Kelly said. “Still learning a lot. Talking to the guys, our goal is to put them in the best position to be successful and help us win.”
Burnes, who signed a six-year, $210 million with Arizona in December, has given up only three runs in his past 23 innings, all coming on a three-run homer by Teoscar Hernandez in the sixth inning his last time out, a 3-1 defeat to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.
Burnes (3-2, 2.73 ERA) wound up fanning eight while throwing seven innings of three-run ball.
The hot streak began after he missed a scheduled start the first week of May because of right shoulder inflammation that was treated with a cortisone shot.
The minimal time off helped, Burnes believed.
“We’d been kind of working on stuff all year,” Burnes said of his interaction with pitching coach Brian Kaplan. “The shoulder made it difficult to kind of get the full extent of what we were trying to work on. So now that the shoulder stuff is kind of behind us, we’re kind of starting to see the stuff that we worked on really starting to show up, which is good.”
Burnes noticed an uptick in his pet cut fastball, a pitch he has thrown 54 percent of the time in his nine starts.
“We saw a couple of things that were positive signs that we hadn’t seen in a couple of years,” he said. “That’s something myself and Kap have been working on a lot, trying to figure out what it is that is not making it cut. The numbers are telling you what your eyes are telling you and what the hitters are telling you.”
Burnes has made quality starts in six of his past seven appearances, and in the other one he gave up three runs (one earned) in 5 1/3 innings before being removed in an April 24 start against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Burrows is set to make his second career start after joining the rotation when Carmen Mlodzinski was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis. Burrows gave up four runs and four hits in five innings of an 8-5 loss to Milwaukee on Thursday, the damage coming on a three-run first-inning homer by Christian Yelich and a bases-empty blast by Joey Ortiz in the second.
The next three innings, Burrows blanked the Brewers.
“Just trying to settle in and make sure we are throwing strikes early and getting quick outs,” Burrows said postgame. “I felt like I could have gone seven, just gave the team what they needed. Tried to get through as many as I can before (Kelly) shakes my hand.”
His only previous major league experience was a relief outing last September against the New York Yankees, when he permitted two runs (one earned) in 3 1/3 innings.
Burrows, 25, had a 2.78 ERA in eight appearances, seven starts, at Indianapolis this season before being recalled, with 41 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings.
Pirates prospect right-hander Braxton Ashcraft made his major league debut with three scoreless innings in relief on Monday. He was promoted before the game when Isaac Mattson was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis.
–Field Level Media
