Corbin Burnes a hard-luck loser again as this time the Brewers' gloves let him down

Todd Rosiak
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Brewers starting pitcher Corbin Burnes reacts after giving up a single against the Atlanta Braves in the sixth inning at Truist Park.

ATLANTA – Corbin Burnes pitched well enough to win on Saturday night, no doubt.

But this time it was the Milwaukee Brewers' gloves – and not necessarily the bats – that let him down.

The Brewers were charged with a pair of errors, one of which led directly to a key run scoring in the sixth inning, as they fell to the Atlanta Braves, 3-2, at Truist Park.

Box score:Braves 3, Brewers 2

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Hunter Renfroe's solo home run in the seventh accounted for the lone run until the ninth for Milwaukee, which had its six-game road winning streak snapped.

The Brewers also lost for the fourth time in six starts this season by Burnes (1-2), the reigning Cy Young Award winner in the National League.

Ronald Acuña Jr. changed the tenor of the game with one mighty swing of his bat in the fifth when he went down out of the zone and drove a 1-2 slider from Burnes 420 feet out to left-center and broke a scoreless tie.

The homer was Acuña's second of the season, with his first a 450-foot bomb off Eric Lauer on Friday.

The Brewers, who'd been completely shut down by Braves starting pitcher Max Fried, finally put together something resembling a rally in the sixth when Luis Urías singled to left and Willy Adames benefited from a tough hop on a sharp grounder that bounced over Austin Riley's glove at third.

That left runners in scoring position with two outs for Christian Yelich, who sent a soft fly ball to shallow left that Travis Demeritte made a terrific diving catch on to rob him of a two-RBI hit and the Brewers of the lead.

The Braves then tacked onto their lead in the bottom of the frame, courtesy of some questionable defense.

Marcell Ozuna led off with a sharp but routine single to center that glanced off the glove of Lorenzo Cain and bounded all the way to the wall.

The two-base error left Ozuna on third, and he scored a batter later when Ozzie Albies singled sharply off the glove of Tellez at first.

Kolten Wong also had a tough night with the glove to that point, being charged with an error on a routine grounder in the fifth immediately following Acuña's homer with another play on a fourth-inning grounder that also could have also been ruled a miscue.

Renfroe led off the seventh by homering to right-center, but Fried settled right back to retire the next three hitters and keep it a 2-1 game.

Burnes was pulled for Luis Perdomo, who was making his Brewers debut, having allowed six hits, two runs (one earned) and a walk with seven strikeouts over his 98-pitch outing.

It was the fifth straight quality start in six overall turns for Burnes, who lowered his earned run average to 1.86.

Atlanta tacked on an insurance run in the eighth on a two-out, RBI single by Travis d'Arnaud off Perdomo.

Facing closer Kenley Jansen, Yelich led off the ninth with a double to left-center to bring the tying run to the plate.

After Renfroe struck out, Tyrone Taylor singled Yelich in to make it 3-2. The game ended when Tellez struck out and Taylor was thrown out trying to steal second on the play.

Burnes entered on a personal hot streak that had seen him record double-digit strikeouts in each of his previous three starts, a feat that tied Yovani Gallardo (2011) for the club record.

And while he didn't have his A-plus strikeout stuff – he didn't register his first two until the third inning – Burnes nevertheless limited Atlanta to three hits and a walk over four scoreless to start.

The left-handed Fried was even better, completely shutting down a Milwaukee offense that had been on a major roll of late.

Fried walked Renfroe on four pitches to start the second inning, a notable moment in that it was the first free pass he'd issued in 29 consecutive innings, the second-longest active streak in the majors.

Wong's soft single with two outs in the third stood as the Brewers' lone hit.