Chase Burns was outstanding once again as he racked up nine strikeouts before turning the game over to the bullpen. That went well at first for the Reds, but in the 9th inning things fell apart for Cincinnati on the mound as the Kansas City Royals pummeled Tony Santillan and took a lead that they held onto as they picked up a victory on the night and a series win.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City Royals (24-38) | 5 | 9 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (31-30) | 2 | 8 | 1 |
| W: Lynch IV (2-0) L: Santillan (1-3) SV Lange (1) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The game did not start out so well for Chase Burns. He issued a 1-out walk to Bobby Witt Jr. n the 1st inning and then five pitches later gave up a 2-run home run to Vinnie Pasquantino as the Royals jumped out to an early 2-0 lead.
Two innings later the Reds would mount their first threat of the game when Tyler Stephenson drew a leadoff walk and Blake Dunn singled with one out. Stephen Kolek would strand them both by picking up back-to-back strikeouts to end the frame. In the top of the 4th Kansas City got back-to-back singles to start the inning, but like his counterpart in the inning prior, Chase Burns would strand both runners with two strikeouts and then a fly out.
Cincinnati got their offense going again in the bottom of the 5th. A leadoff single was erased by a double play, but Matt McLain kept the inning alive with a single and Blake Dunn got the job done with a 2-run home run into the first row of seats in left field that tied the game up.
Chase Burns headed back to the mound for the 6th inning. Salvador Perez reached on an error with one out and then took second base on a wild pitch. Burns locked in from there and struck out the next two batters to keep the game tied up.
After striking out nine batters and giving up just those two runs on the 1st inning home run, Chase Burns day ended after the 6th and the Reds turned the game over to Caleb Ferguson in the 7th. He retired all four batters he faced before Tejay Antone came on to record the last two outs of the top of the 8th to keep the game at 2-2. Dane Myers came off of the bench in the bottom of the inning and had a 2-out, pinch hit double but a groundout would leave him on the bases and send the game to the 9th with the game still even.
Cincinnati turned the game over to Tony Santillan and things did not go well. He gave up a leadoff single, a sacrifice bunt, an RBI single, a 2-run home run, and then a walk before he exited the game with his team trailing by three runs.
Zach McCambley was then called on out of the bullpen to take over in what was his big league debut. The righty struck out Carter Jensen for the second out of the inning. That brought Bobby Witt Jr. to the plate and he singled to put men on the corners. A stolen base would put two into scoring position, so the Reds then opted to intentionally walk Vinnie Pasquatino and load the bases to get a righty-righty matchup against Salvador Perez. The move worked out as McCambley struck him out to strand three.
Spencer Steer would start the bottom of the 9th inning off with a double. Edwin Arroyo came off of the bench to pinch hit for Tyler Stephenson with one out to get a lefty-on-right matchup. The two had an 8-pitch battle but Arroyo would strike out looking. Down to their last out the Reds went to the bench again to bring in Noelvi Marte to pinch hit for Matt McLain. It was an eventful at-bat as Marte thought he was hit by a pitch on a checked swing and the Reds challenged the non-call, but the call stood. The next pitch was called a strike, but he challenged it and it was overturned. Two pitches later he drew a walk to bring the tying run to the plate. Blake Dunn would fly out to center to end the game as the Royals held on for a 5-2 win that gave them a series victory.
Key Moment of the Game
Calling Tony Santillan in to pitch in the 9th inning of a tie game. It turned out to be more of the same for him as he gave up three runs.
Notes Worth Noting
Blake Dunn had been in a bit of a slump over the last few days but he picked up a walk-off hit on Tuesday and then had two more hits including a home run in this one to get things moving in the right direction again. He was the only Red with more than one hit in the game.
Half of the hits for Cincinnati were extra-base hits but only Dunn’s home run resulted in any runs being scored.
Tony Santillan’s season since the start of May continues to be an unmitigated disaster. He’s pitched in 12 games since May began and has allowed 14 earned runs in 9.1 innings while giving up as many home runs as he’s had strikeouts – seven. His ERA on the year now sits at 6.65.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs St. Louis Cardinals
Friday June 5th, 8:15pm ET
Brady Singer (2-5, 6.18 ERA) vs Kyle Leahy (5-3, 4.25 ERA)