CINCINNATI – Chase Burns was pushed back two extra days because of an illness that caused the Reds to scratch his scheduled Monday start. His recent stretch of strong performances was slightly bothered but not derailed.
Unfortunately for the Reds, their lineup could not pull another rabbit from its hat, and their bullpen ran out of zeros to post. The Royals scored three runs in the ninth inning against beleaguered reliever Tony Santillan to hand Cincinnati a 5-2 loss on Wednesday at Great American Ball Park.
Last in the American League Central, Kansas City took two of three games in the series from the Reds (31-30), who have dropped five of their past seven games to remain last in the National League Central.
In a no-decision, Burns allowed two runs and four hits over six innings with one walk and nine strikeouts.
"Just trying to get my bearings back, that’s a little weird," Burns said. "The sickness was behind me, but overall, I felt great.”
The only blemish for Burns came in the top of the first inning. After a four-pitch walk issued to Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino hit a two-run home run to right field to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead.
“Even warming up, I think he looked a little sluggish – I thought even in the first inning," manager Terry Francona said. "And he gave up the home run. I think that took the sluggishness away."
“After walking Bobby and then giving up the bomb, you can’t say anything. You just let the past be the past and kind of adjust from there," Burns said. "It definitely pissed me off. You just walk someone like that and then miss your spot. The guy’s going to hit it. It helped throughout the game.”
Burns opened the fourth inning by allowing back-to-back singles to Salvador Perez and Jac Caglianone, but he struck out the next two batters and got a flyout to escape. He retired nine of his last 10 batters, with only a Spencer Steer fielding error at second base providing another baserunner.
The Royals had eight hard-hit balls out of their 14 times making contact against Burns. But he kept them from adding on with effective use of his four-seam fastball and slider and incorporating some changeups.
"He’s a really good pitcher; he had his stuff today," Royals third baseman Nick Loftin said. "Really hard slider, really good fastball. We were able to put some really good ABs against him, get some runs. Vinny with the homer off him in the first is pretty big for us. It gives us confidence throughout the order."
Over his past nine starts, Burns has a 1.67 ERA while throwing 5 1/3 innings or more and allowing two runs or fewer in each of them. Overall, the right-hander is 7-1 with a 2.05 ERA in 12 starts and 70 1/3 innings.
“Every time I go out there, I’m just trying to get six [innings], just trying to put the team in the best position to win," Burns said. "As long as I do that, I’m pretty happy.”
When the Reds pulled out Tuesday's 4-3 win in 10 innings over Kansas City, they notched only four hits but had three homers and a walk-off single from Blake Dunn. On Wednesday, Royals starter Stephen Kolek kept Cincinnati scoreless through four innings, but after Matt McLain hit a two-out single in the fifth, Dunn jumped on a 2-0 slider for a game-tying two-run homer to left field.
This time, there was no big hit in the late innings despite relievers Caleb Ferguson and Tejay Antone combining for a scoreless two innings.
The game got away in the ninth inning from Santillan, who allowed a pair of singles, including Michael Massey's RBI hit to right field for the go-ahead run. Loftin followed by scorching a 2-0 fastball over the middle of the plate for a two-run homer to left field.
Santillan, who had a 1.98 ERA over his first 14 appearances, has a 13.50 ERA over his past 12.
“My breaking ball has been inconsistent. I haven’t been able to land it for strikes when needed. Then I get behind in counts and I have to be borderline perfect with the fastball because it’s a one-pitch mix at that point," Santillan said.
“Obviously, this last month or so is not what I expected or what anybody has expected out of me, especially. I’ll just continue to work and get that secondary [pitch] in a good spot. I think that will honestly change, really, everything.”