Chase Burns is officially the Reds stopper. The right-handed starter struck out nine batters and gave up just one run in six innings as he moved to 6-1 on the year after he got enough support from the Cincinnati offense in a 4-1 win that evened up the series with the Phillies in Philadelphia.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (25-24) | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| Philadelphia Phillies (25-24) | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| W: Burns (6-1) L: Luzardo (3-4) SV: Santillan (2) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Cincinnati would get the first two batters on base in the 3rd inning as they mounted their first threat of the game, but Jesus Luzardo got Ke’Bryan Hayes to ground into double play on the first pitch he threw him and then got Matt McLain to ground out to end the top of the inning. In the bottom of the inning the Phillies only got one hit but it was a solo home run from Trea Turner to put Philadelphia up 1-0.
Elly De La Cruz led off the 4th inning with a fly ball into left-center and Justin Crawford had it hit off of his glove as he reached out for it on the run and it trickled past him and De La Cruz wound up on third base with a triple. Spencer Steer picked up an infield single with the infield drawn in as no one covered first base, but De La Cruz had to stay at third. A walk to Sal Stewart followed to load the bases. Dany Myers and JJ Bleday both came through with back-to-back sacrifice flies to put two runs on the board and give the Reds a 2-1 lead.
After giving up a home run to Turner in the 3rd inning Chase Burns locked in, striking out six of the next seven batters he saw, with the final one ending the 5th inning on an overturned call initiated by Tyler Stephenson. When he came out in the 6th inning Burns retired the side in order but he didn’t have a strikeout and the inning ended when Bryce Harper lined a ball off of the posterior of Burns, who was able to recover and field the ball for the final out.
Cincinnati would get a leadoff double from JJ Bleday in the top of the 7th that was followed up by a single and a walk to load the bases. That brought Ke’Bryan Hayes to the plate, who had grounded into two double plays in the game already. This time he simply grounded into a force out that erased the lead runner. Matt McLain came up and made soft contact on a checked swing, and Bryce Harper fielded the grounder and came up firing to the plate, but Blake Dunn beat the throw by about an inch and after the Reds challenged the on-field call he was ruled safe to make it 3-1 and keep the bases loaded. Elly De La Cruz then drew a walk to bring in another run.
The Reds turned the game over to their bullpen for the bottom of the 7th inning and brought in Pierce Johnson. After walking Alec Bohm, Johnson struck out Brandon Marsh. Then he got some help from his defense when Matt McLain made a sensational diving catch on a line drive up the middle for the second out of the inning. A strikeout followed to end the frame as he held onto the 3-run lead.
Sam Moll took over for the 8th inning and was able to get a 1-2-3 inning on 15 pitches to send the game to the 9th. Cincinnati wouldn’t score in their half of the inning and then sent Tony Santillan to the mound for the bottom of the frame. He would get Trea Turner to fly out in foul territory on a nice catch by Blake Dunn on the first pitch he threw. Bryce Harper would then strikeout swinging through a 96 MPH fastball. Santillan came back with another strikeout, but once again it came with the help of a Tyler Stephenson challenge that got the call overturned to end the game and even up the series.
Key Moment of the Game
Blake Dunn scoring the 3rd run of the game for Cincinnati in the 7th inning. The call on the field was that he was out, but the Reds challenged the call and it was overturned. That run was followed up with a bases loaded walk to give the bullpen just a little more breathing room.
Notes Worth Noting
Chase Burns lowered his ERA to 1.83 on the year. In his 10 starts he’s thrown 59.0 innings and given up just 38 hits, has 18 walks, and he now has 64 strikeouts. Batters are hitting just .183 against him at this point in the season.
Blake Dunn was the only Reds hitter with multiple hits. He went 2-4. He’s only had 23 at-bats since his call up but he’s taken advantage of his opportunities and is hitting .348/.423/.522 and he’s been making an impact on the bases and in the field.
Let’s go streaking! No, not like that. Spencer Steer extended his hit streak to 10 games. Elly De La Cruz extended his on-base streak to 12 games. Sal Stewart extended his on-base streak to 15 games.
Matt McLain’s diving catch in the 7th inning only had a 5% catch probability according to Statcast.
With two groundball double plays, Ke’Bryan Hayes now has as many of those on the season – five – as he has runs batted in.
Jim Day reported that Rhett Lowder threw a bullpen session earlier on Tuesday and that it went well.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Philadelphia Phillies
Wednesday May 20th, 1:05pm ET
Andrew Abbott (3-2, 4.21 ERA) vs Aaron Nola (2-3, 5.91 ERA)