Corbin Burnes, among the leading NL Cy Young candidates, has taken his game to another level this season, one where only a few have gone.
The right-hander recorded 10 straight strikeouts on Wednesday in the Brewers’ 10-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs, which tied a record held by Tom Seaver, who did it in 1970, and Aaron Nola, who accomplished the feat on June 25 of this season against the Mets.
The tying strikeout came against the Cubs’ Frank Schwindel in the fifth inning. Burnes threw a masterful 88-mph slider which Schwindel swung and missed. The streak eventually came to an end on the next play, as Matt Duffy singled to right on the first pitch of his at-bat.
“I had no idea. When I came in, [someone] said something and I was like ‘What did I do?” the 26-year-old Burnes told reporters afterward. “Why are we throwing the ball out of the game? What’s going on? I had no clue.”
Burnes was pulled from the game after the eighth inning and left with a career-high 15 strikeouts, the second-most in franchise history. He trails Ben Sheets, who had 18 in 2004. Having an early lead – thanks to a seven-run first inning – allowed Burnes to settle into the game and do what he does best.
“It makes it really easy to just throw it over the plate,” he said. “Even after scoring seven runs, they came out swinging, so after the first we said instead of leaving it over the middle let’s just go back to our game plan and go to the edges and do what we do best. It worked. Credit goes to Omar [Narvaez]. I think I shook him off once all night.”
The pitcher is in elite company as he joins Mets ace Jacob DeGrom for the most strikeouts in a game this season (both did it while allowing no walks). Also, his 30 swings-and-misses are the second-most in a game, after the Angels’ Patrick Sandoval recorded 32 in June.
In April, Burnes began the year with 58 strikeouts before issuing his first walk. That briefly stood as the all-time record until Yankees ace Gerrit Cole broke it, issuing 61 strikeouts without a walk.
Burnes has quickly emerged as an ace since his horrid 2019 season. That year, he struggled as he held a 1-5 record with an 8.82 ERA. The past two seasons, however, he has a combined 11-5 record while keeping his ERA under 2.25 in both seasons (2.11 in 2020). His 2.23 ERA this season currently places him at third in the league.
The ace is also third in strikeouts behind Zack Wheeler and Cole. However, he leads the majors in strikeout rate at 36.1%, and has the lowest home run rate by allowing five home runs in 121 innings.
Burnes will look to continue his history-breaking run and capture his first Cy Young award of his young career.