CINCINNATI — Start by start — sometimes inning by inning — Reds top prospect Chase Burns is figuring things out in the big leagues.
In his fourth Major League start, and 17th as a professional, Burns put together his best overall outing yet and his first quality start. His six-inning effort was not rewarded as the Reds’ offense faltered hard in big situations for a 3-2 loss against a Rockies club that came in losers in 15 of their previous 19 games.
“It’s still baseball. But then again, I’m trying to improve every start,” said Burns, who allowed two runs on four hits with three walks and 10 strikeouts.
With Tony Santillan on the mound, it was a 2-2 game in the eighth inning with the bases loaded when a two-out, two-strike wild pitch to Brenton Doyle scored the go-ahead run.
The other killer for Cincinnati was going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position, including 0-for-5 by Austin Hays — who grounded into a double play and struck out four times, including one to end the game.
On three straight occasions, Colorado intentionally walked Elly De La Cruz to get to Hays before he struck out.
“Well, you can see why we try to protect Elly as much as we could,” manager Terry Francona said. “Austin had a tough night tonight. We’ll take him in that situation all the rest of the year, believe me.”
The Reds have dropped five of their last seven games and are 48-47 with two games left before the All-Star break. They can ill-afford to give away games while trying to stay in the playoff chase.
The bright spot of the evening was clearly Burns, who is ranked by MLB Pipeline as Cincinnati’s No. 1 prospect and No. 2 overall. Six of his strikeouts were called, which tied him for the third most in a game this season in MLB. He’s the first Reds pitcher to have six called K’s since Sonny Gray on Sept. 6, 2021, which is also second most by a Reds pitcher in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008).
The slider, which Burns used to induce 13 swings with seven misses, was responsible for four of his strikeouts.
COMPLETE REDS PROSPECT COVERAGE
“It’s a good pitch when I execute it well,” Burns said. “I like to use it to get ahead and get strikeouts.”
Burns, who was given a 1-0 lead on Noelvi Marte’s leadoff home run to left-center field in the third inning, gave up a two-run homer to Ryan McMahon in the top of the fourth.
“He was throwing the ball extremely aggressively,” Francona said. “He tried a get-me-over curveball for a first pitch to McMahon. It was elevated. Other than that, he was terrific.”
Burns, who has a 6.19 ERA through four starts, threw 91 pitches through 4 2/3 innings at Philadelphia on Sunday in his last outing. He was also not tracking to reach six innings on Friday after he needed 25 pitches to get through the top of the third inning and 31 pitches in the top of the fourth. With two outs in the third, he loaded the bases with a pair of walks sandwiching a single, but escaped by striking out Jordan Beck with a 99 mph fastball.
A leadoff walk to Michael Toglia by Burns had immediate consequences when McMahon followed by hitting the first pitch to right field for a two-run homer and a 2-1 Rockies lead.
With 81 pitches through the fourth, Burns went back out and quickly got economical. He threw only six pitches in a perfect fifth inning and eight pitches to cap off the sixth.
“Just making the adjustment. I just attacked them, really,” Burns said. “I feel like it was a big improvement from last time. It was one mistake that happened. I could limit walks a little bit better.”
Burns will get an extended rest from the All-Star break, with his next start day for the Reds to be determined in the second half.
“That was really good,” Francona said of Friday’s start. “This kid’s learning on the fly, but there’s so much to like about him. You wish he wouldn’t have thrown the one breaking ball. I’m sure he feels the same way.”