SAN DIEGO -- It turned out that Chase Burns' professional career-high 105-pitch performance for the Reds against the Padres Tuesday night was even more impressive than originally thought.
That's because Burns was pitching with a cut on his right middle finger that happened shortly before the game. He sliced it while opening a water bottle.
“It was one of those aluminum water bottles,” Burns explained Wednesday. “My hands were slippery and I tried to open it. Then it wouldn’t open, so I tried to go harder and it slipped and just cut it. It’s just like a little paper cut right in the middle.”
For the first time in his brief professional career, Burns eclipsed 100 pitches while going 5 1/3 innings with two runs, six hits, two walks and seven strikeouts in a no-decision before the Reds earned a 5-3 win in 11 innings over San Diego.
Before the game as Burns warmed up, the Reds had lefty reliever Caleb Ferguson on standby in case the 23-year-old right-hander couldn't go.
“The good news was it was right on the pad of his middle finger, which didn’t look inviting but he throws his breaking ball more over here [on the side] where the callous is,” manager Terry Francona said. “You could tell it didn’t bother the kid but I was just concerned if there was blood on the ball or something.”
“In the outfield, I had to use a towel the whole time because every time I threw, it started bleeding,” Burns said. “Other than that, it was just more annoying than anything.”
The Reds' training staff put antiseptic on the finger and glued the cut. Burns and the club had to get approval for the glue from MLB and the umpires, who checked his hands before he went out to pitch.
“He saw it. He saw the cut and that I had glue on it. Then the glue fell off,” Burns said.
There was minimal bleeding during the game.
“I just put rosin on it and the rosin kind of stopped it from bleeding. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” Burns said. “If anybody’s had a paper cut, you know if you get water on it or rub it the wrong way, it hurts. Of course, the ball going across it 100 times, it was pretty annoying. But I think it became numb at some point. And we cleaned it up after the game.”
Amid his first full Major League season and second pro year overall, Burns kept brandishing his All-Star résumé despite the no-decision. Over 13 starts this season, he is 7-1 with a 2.14 ERA that trails only the Phillies' Cristopher Sánchez (1.54) and the Brewers' Jacob Misiorowski (1.50) in the National League.
Burns, who is ranked fourth in WHIP (0.99) and second in opponents' batting average (.190), has allowed two or fewer runs in 10 consecutive starts, which is tied with Andy Coakley (1908) for second in Reds franchise history behind Edinson Volquez's 12 (2008).
Because there was concern that Burns might have a short night, Cincinnati had Chase Petty fly to San Diego from Triple-A Louisville Tuesday night. Since the bullpen provided 5 2/3 innings of relief in the win, Petty was officially recalled on Wednesday and reliever Zach McCambley was optioned to Louisville.