Mudcats' Burnes fans career-high 10

While coaching third base, Class A Advanced Carolina manager Joe Ayrault hears some stuff. On Sunday, he heard a whole lot about his starting pitcher, Corbin Burnes.
"The opposing team, their position players are always talking about, 'Man, this guy's nasty, he's got great stuff,'" the skipper said.

The Brewers' No. 20 prospect continued his impressive season by recording a career-high 10 strikeouts over seven frames Sunday as the Mudcats outlasted Winston-Salem, 3-0, in 10 innings at BB&T Ballpark. Burnes gave up three hits and a walk.
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"That's when you know a guy's really good, when you got the opposing team's players talking about him. And, of course, other teams' managers, coaches. He's one of those guys they're always asking about," Ayrault said. "He's one of those guys, when [hitters] see he's starting, they know they're going to have their work cut out for them because he's got good stuff and he comes at you."
Burnes yielded five baserunners, including Johan Cruz, who reached on an error by first baseman Jake Gatewood in the third, but never more than one in an inning.

"He's an intense competitor, he has a knack for dialing it up when he needs to, he's a perfectionist," Ayrault said. "He gets after it, a bulldog mentality when he gets out on the mound. He's got plus stuff and good makeup, good mentality to go with it."
Burnes got to a three-ball count only three times. And a month after fanning nine over six innings against Buies Creek, the 22-year-old established a new personal best with 10 punchouts as he punched out three of his final four batters.
"He's got an above-average fastball, he cuts it on occasion and has nasty movement, mixes his pitches well, can throw his off-speed stuff for strikes," Ayrault said. "He's just got plus stuff, has the mentality, he's in the zone, has good command, he's got a good idea of how to pitch. Very advanced for this level."
Burnes lowered his league-leading ERA to 1.00 over 54 innings. The 2016 fourth-rounder is 4-0 with 50 strikeouts and 15 walks in nine starts in his first full season, holding opponents to one earned run or fewer in all but one start.
"He's just outstanding," the skipper said. "All year long, he's been impressive with his fastball, plus off-speed stuff, attacks hitters and he has a great demeanor on the mound. You pretty much know what you're going to get out of him: it's going to be a quality start every time he's out there."
While Burnes was setting down the Dash, Winston-Salem counterpart Tanner Banks was keeping pace. He went eight innings for the second time this season and yielded four hits and no walks while striking out five.
"He was touching around 91, filled the zone with strikes. We had some early outs in the count," Ayrault said. "A quality left-handed pitcher."

Before leading off the 10th inning, Isan Diaz told his Mudcats teammates they were going to win the game right there. The Brewers' No. 10 prospect singled to right field, moved to second on an errant pickoff attempt by reliever Kelvis Valerio (2-3) and took third on a wild pitch. No. 7 prospect Lucas Erceg singled home before Trent Clark and Mac McDowell added RBI triples.
"When a guy like [Diaz] says it, you know good stuff is going to happen," Ayrault said. "He has quality at-bats and he has the ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark to all fields. Clark's had a real good series, hitting a lot of balls on the screws, having a good year."
Eric Hanhold (1-2) fanned two in two perfect frames for the win and Nate Griep struck out two in a 1-2-3 10th for his league-leading seventh save.