Burns set for 1st career start vs. Cubs on Sunday Night Baseball

CHICAGO -- Chase Burns will get his third crack at win No. 15 -- and it will come with national television exposure -- when he takes the mound for the Reds against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on NBC's Sunday Night Baseball.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:20 p.m. ET. Burns will be opposite Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga.

​

Burns, 23, is 14-3 with a 2.77 ERA in 25 starts (139 2/3 innings) to go along with 164 strikeouts. As he tries to remain in the conversation for the National League Cy Young Award, the right-hander entered Saturday tied for fifth in opponents' batting average (.218) and sixth in the NL in ERA and eighth in strikeouts.

There isn't much history with Burns against the Cubs. Sunday marks his first career start against Chicago after he faced them in relief on Sept. 20 of last season. He worked 1 1/3 innings of one-run ball on three hits and one strikeout for a hold during a 6-3 Cincinnati win.

This will be a rare start this season where Burns will be trying to bounce back from a poor outing. His performance in a 5-0 loss to the Giants on Monday was his worst of the season as he allowed a season-high tying five runs and a career-high tying nine hits over only 3 2/3 innings with one walk and five strikeouts while throwing 64 pitches.

There were eight hard-hit balls in the game and the Giants made contact on 23 of their 32 swings. Burns also did not record a 1-2-3 inning as 10 of his 19 batters reached safely.

The last time the Reds were on a Sunday Night Baseball broadcast was also against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on June 14, 2015. Carried then on ESPN, Cincinnati was handed a 2-1 loss in 11 innings.