There has been ample to lament about the Cincinnati Reds of late.
They endured that brutal 8-game losing streak, one that featured record walk rates, bullpen meltdowns, and even a trio of consecutive walk-off defeats. They came back up for air briefly, but rode into Tuesday evening’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies once again on a 3-game skid, one that would put them officially under the .500 mark for the season if it continued.
The bullpen is a disaster. The starting rotation is in tatters.
Leadoff man TJ Friedl has been effectively benched during his struggles, and 3B of the present (and future, per his contract) Ke’Bryan Hayes has basically been peak Homer Bailey in the batter’s box all season.
What the Cincinnati Reds do have, though, is Chase Burns, and nobody else does. And when Burns gets the ball, it’s an automatic that something brilliant is going to happen for the Reds regardless of the rest of their struggles.
Burns took the ball in Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday and breezed through the Phillies, firing 6.0 IP of 3 H, ER, 0 BB ball on 86 pitches. He struck out 9, never once looked the least bit fazed, and exited seemingly just fine despite the final out he recorded being a comebacker off the bat of Bryce Harper that hit him somewhere in between the waist and knees.
And for the first time in seemingly forever, handing the ball over to the Reds bullpen didn’t appear to be a problem.
The Reds posted a 4-1 victory that moved them to 25-24 on the season, with a couple timely hits, a series of sacrifice flies, some unequivocally poor defense from the Phils, and quality pitching all around in windy and rainy conditions contributing to their victory. Elly De La Cruz tripled, scored, and walked with the bases loaded to drive in a run, while Tyler Stephenson got a mighty OPS boost by singling and walking 3 times on the night.
It wasn’t a pretty game offensively, with precious few hard-hit lasers. It did feature Ke’Bryan Hayes twice hitting into double plays in big spots and grounding into a force play at home with the bases loaded on a ball that, if the Phillies weren’t playing in to prevent a run, would’ve been a third double-play. Still, the collective parts were good enough to bring home a much needed W for the good guys, and they’ll have a chance to take the series tomorrow afternoon with Andrew Abbott on the bump.
Thank heck for Chase Burns. The Reds would be woefully lost without him, and he’s only 18 starts into his big league career.
