PITTSBURGH -- Mike Burrows had a bad inning Sunday, but the Pirates rookie right-hander did not let it completely ruin his outing.
Burrows allowed four runs and three hits while striking out six in five innings of a no-decision. The pitching line looked worse than it was because all four runs came in one inning.
The Pirates were trailing 4-3 when Burrows left the game, but the bullpen gave up 10 runs in four innings as the Pirates fell to the Reds, 14-8, at PNC Park to split the four-game series. Pittsburgh lost despite having 16 hits, including three by Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
The Reds got to Burrows in the third inning. After Elly De La Cruz snapped a scoreless tie with an RBI single, Miguel Andujar belted a three-run home run into the left-field rotunda to make it 4-0.
“Yeah, I kept us in the game at the time. Yeah, just unfortunate,” Burrows said. “One pitch [to Andujar] that kind of missed, it slipped. Just kind of stayed up, and he was able to do something with that. I thought it was going to be foul, just based off of the location of the pitch. I didn’t think there was much else he could do with it, but he did.”
Burrows proceeded to retire his final seven batters before being pulled after 74 pitches. It was a show of resiliency by a rookie.
“Short memory. Just keep working,” Burrows said. “Everything else was good, so I mean, other than one pitch that kind of hurt me today, it was good otherwise. We were rolling and getting quick outs and moving smooth.”
The 25-year-old Burrows has experienced the ups and downs that most rookies go through. In his previous start, the Giants scored six runs in 4 2/3 innings off him and hit three home runs as Burrows took the loss to fall to 1-4.
Burrows didn’t make it out of the second inning in his final start before the All-Star break as the Twins scored six runs off him in 1 2/3 innings. However, Burrows bounced back after the break and allowed three runs in 17 innings over three starts, which all resulted in no-decisions.
“It’s impressive, the way that he's able to slow things down and go back out there and really attack the zone,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “I don't know what his pitch count was in that [third] inning, but he went right after guys. Got ahead. I think it might’ve been under 10 pitches, which is impressive for a young guy to give up four runs like that, come back out in the next inning and attack the way he did. He showed some really good signs of rebounding and resilience, things that it takes to be a starter.”
While Burrows hopes to finish the season as a regular member of the Pirates’ rotation, the team will be cautious with his workload.
Burrows has pitched 100 innings between the Pirates and Triple-A Indianapolis. He logged just 54 2/3 innings last season in his first year back following Tommy John surgery.
“Pretty mindful. We’re taking it into account,” Kelly said. “We’re having discussions on that and we’re going to talk to Mike about it.”