Burnes outduels Kelly, Brewers top Diamondbacks 7-1

Manager Craig Counsell said Tuesday night might have been his very best.

Burnes threw eight scoreless innings, Willy Adames broke up Merrill Kelly’s no-hit bid in the seventh inning by smashing a solo homer to center field, and the Brewers piled up runs late to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-1.

“That’s as good of a start as Corbin has had in the big leagues,” Counsell said. “I thought he was just awesome.”

Burnes (1-1) — the 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner — had two mediocre starts to begin the season but was excellent against the D-backs. The hard-throwing righty gave up three hits and struck out eight, navigating the D-backs’ lineup in just 89 pitches.

“It’s about not hitting the panic button,” Burnes said. “It’s very easy to start to panic, start looking at things and dig into something that’s not there. So for me, I took a brief look at the mechanics, took a brief look at the movement and everything was there.

“So it’s just getting up there, competing and being aggressive.”

Burnes and Kelly were locked in a scoreless pitcher’s duel for the first six innings. Adames broke through when he led off the seventh by belting a 91 mph sinker high off the center field batter’s eye above the 407-foot sign.

The Diamondbacks had their four-game winning streak snapped.

“I don’t have a lot to say other than that their starting pitcher was really good,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’ve just got to turn the page, spit it out. … Sometimes you run into this type of buzz saw.”

After Adames’ homer, Kelly (0-2) walked the next two batters before being pulled for reliever Miguel Castro, who allowed both of those runners to score. Kelly was charged with three runs over six-plus innings, striking out seven and walking four.

“It was a really exciting game,” Lovullo said. “And whoever blinked first was going to get sucker-punched. We ended up being that team.”

The Brewers ended up scoring five runs in the seventh. Mike Brosseau’s two-out, two-run double off Castro made it 5-0.

Rowdy Tellez homered in the eighth and Brosseau added another solo shot in the ninth. Brosseau paced the offense with three RBIs, but said Tuesday was all about the starting pitcher.

“That’s the Burnes we know,” Brosseau said. “The way he changed speeds, kept them off balance, it looked like he had really good feel of his off-speed the whole day.”

Rookie Gabriel Moreno had two of the D-backs’ four hits. Pavin Smith added an RBI single for the team’s only run.

Brewers: RHP Brandon Woodruff was placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. Counsell said Woodruff didn’t recover well from his previous start and the team wanted to give him some rest. RHP Janson Junk was called up from Triple-A to take his spot. … OF Jesse Winker (illness) didn’t play, staying at the team hotel.

Diamondbacks: LHP Joe Mantiply (shoulder) is in Double-A Amarillo for a rehab assignment. The All-Star started the season on the injured list. … RHP Scott McGough was placed on the paternity list. RHP José Ruiz took his place on the roster.

The teams wrap up a three-game series on Wednesday. Milwaukee hasn’t decided on its starting pitcher — though Counsell said it’ll likely be Junk — while Arizona will use rookie RHP Drey Jameson (2-0, 2.16 ERA).

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