CINCINNATI -- Chase Burns has been gifted with an arm that can dial up a triple-digit fastball or a 90 mph slider while racking up strikeouts at lightning speed.
But the sign of a maturing ace is the ability to pitch when he doesn’t have strikeout stuff, and still stay on the mound to go toe-to-toe with another pitcher who is dealing. And that maturity was on full display Saturday as Burns outdueled Houston ace Spencer Arrighetti to lead the Reds past the Astros, 3-1, at Great American Ball Park, and finally snap an eight-game losing streak.
“It’s a good feeling. It's a real good feeling. I'm happy for those guys out there,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “It's been a tough week, but they're working, and they're competing, and it's not always been as good as we want. But they're not quitting, so we're not going to quit on that. I said that [Friday] night.”
Burns made it a lot easier for the Reds not to quit Saturday, tossing four scoreless innings before Braden Shewmake hit a changeup to right field for a solo homer with two outs in the fifth.
In a week filled with bad breaks and injury issues, the Reds finally got a break in the fifth and took full advantage.
With Houston up, 1-0, Astros right fielder Cam Smith moved from the sun into the shadows along the right field line, settling under the fly off the bat of Jose Trevino. The ball caromed off the heel of his glove and onto the ground for an error that allowed Spencer Steer to take third and Will Benson to take second.
Matt McLain followed with a first-pitch line-drive single to left that scored Steer and Benson, giving Cincinnati its first lead since a 6-4 ninth-inning advantage on Wednesday night at Wrigley Field. The throw from Zach Cole escaped catcher Christian Vázquez, allowing Trevino and McLain to advance.
Following a walk to TJ Friedl and a JJ Bleday flyout, the Reds made it 3-1 on a two-out single to left from Elly De La Cruz. Trevino scored, but McLain was thrown out by Cole to end the inning.
It was then up to Burns to close the door and not let the Astros respond. Burns wasn’t blowing hitters away all afternoon. He was getting great defensive help around him, like back-to-back plays from Benson in the third. Christian Vázquez lined a four-seam fastball out to Benson, who made the grab in right-center. Then Jose Altuve lofted a ball on a slider down the right field line, and Benson came over and caught it up against the wall in foul territory for the third out.
“Yeah, huge. I didn't execute the pitch,” Burns said. “[The pitches] got hit. But when you’ve got a guy like Will Benson out there, he was catching everything today. So much appreciated.”
Burns struck out two and walked three. He did his best pitching in the sixth, allowing a leadoff double to Yordan Alvarez before retiring the next three batters to leave with a 3-1 lead. Cam Smith, a Florida State product whom Burns faced in 2024 when Burns was at Wake Forest, came up with two outs and Alvarez at second.
Burns reached back and whiffed Smith on a 100 mph four-seam fastball for only his second strikeout, and his final batter of the day. Burns came off the mound yelling and pumping his fist, knowing he had his 3-1 lead in tact.
“Obviously, you don't want to start off any inning with a double, but just bearing down, executing those pitches. And then, of course, Cam Smith up, [faced] him in college, is a good hitter. So, I just kind of knew that pitch meant a little bit more just to get out of that inning.”
“Like a lot of good pitchers, [Burns] kind of has the ability to be his own reliever,” Francona said. “And he doesn't have a lot of Major League starts, but I used to say that about [Justin] Verlander all the time, like they had another gear, and he kind of showed it.”
Turns out, Burns can still find that next gear when he needs to, and the Reds were the ones grateful for that Saturday.