Except when he pitches against the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers.
For the first time this season — in his 25th start of 2025 — Skenes gave up a first-inning run as the Brewers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 14-0, to extend their winning streak to 11 games.
Skenes — who entered Tuesday, Aug. 12 leading the league with a 1.94 earned run average — gave up a leadoff home run to Sal Frelick.
Skenes gave up four runs over four innings, matching his shortest start of the season, which also happened against the Brewers. In Skenes’ previous time on the mound at American Family Field, he allowed four runs in the second inning (the only runs he’s allowed in the second frame all season) as the Brewers prevailed, 4-2, on June 25. In total, Skenes has given up eight runs in his previous two starts against the Brewers; Skenes has allowed just eight runs in his last 11 starts against all other teams.
For the Brewers, the victory was the team’s 11th straight and fans in Milwaukee are again thinking about free burgers. With a win in the series finale against the Pirates on Wednesday, the Brewers will hit a milestone (at least in Milwaukee) 12-game winning streak and earn local fans free hamburgers from George Webb, a local restaurant chain.
The Brewers came close to achieving the free burger giveaway last month, winning 11 straight before ‘The Big Dumper,’ All-Star Cal Raleigh, spoiled the fun for Milwaukee as the Seattle Mariners defeated the Brewers on July 22.
The Brewers face the Pirates at 2:10 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Aug. 13 (on MLB Network). Brandon Woodruff gets the start for the Brewers against the Pirates’ Mitch Keller.
What’s the George Webb hamburger giveaway?
The restaurant’s namesake, George Webb, was an avid baseball fan and the genesis of the 12-game winning streak promotion dates back to the minor league Milwaukee Brewers and through the brief tenure of the Milwaukee Braves. However, it’s been the current incarnation of the Brewers who have fed fans with free burgers.
How many times has George Webb given out free burgers after the Brewers won 12 straight games?
The most recent was in 2018, when the Brewers won the final seven games of the regular season, prevailed in the one-game NL Central tiebreaker against the rival Chicago Cubs, swept the Colorado Rockies in three games in the division series and then won Game 1 of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The most famous instance of the Brewers prompting George Webb’s 12-game win streak promotion was in 1987. ‘Team Streak’ – as that season’s Brewers were called – won the first 13 games of the season. That run included one of the most iconic moments in franchise history, an epic come-from-behind win against the Texas Rangers on Easter Sunday at County Stadium. That was win No. 12, and a dramatic way to earn Milwaukee fans free hamburgers. The next night, the Brewers defeated the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park for their 13th straight win to start a season, which remains tied for the longest such win streak in baseball’s modern era.
Three days after the Brewers won their 12th straight in 1987, George Webb restaurants handed out almost 168,194 free hamburgers, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network.
