By Hal McCoy
When Eugenio Suarez cracked a two-run home run in the first inning Monday night, the Cincinnati Reds led the New York Mets, 3-0.
The Mets could have packed their bats and gloves and headed to uptown Cincinnati for a scrumptious steak dinner.
Chase Burns, the Reds starting pitcher, has given up two or few runs in 13 of his 14 starts.
When Eugenio Suarez smashed a grand slam home run in the second inning to make it 9-0, with his stuff, Burns could have pitched the rest of the night from a rocking chair.
And when it was over, the Reds owned a 12-0 win that was as easy as Suarez blowing mammoth bubble gum bubbles when he stands at third base between pitches.
The two-run home run and the grand slam gave Suarez a career-best six RBI and nobody cared that he struck out his next two times after he hit his ninth career grand slam.
Does that mean Suarez is heating up, as he usually does when the weather heats up the way it does in his native Venezuela.
Before this one, Suarez was a front seat passenger on the struggle bus — a .215 batting average with only five homers and only 19 RBI.
At first, during his post-game interview in front of the home team dugout in Great American Ball Park, Suarez seemed at a loss for words.
“Awesome,” he said, with a long pause. “It’s great. It’s great to be able to do this, to help my team win the first game against the Mets and do it in front of my wife, my daughter, my sister and my mom and dad.
“When I crossed home plate and saw all my family celebrating, that means alot,” he added.
Suarez admitted it has been a slow start, but his smile and his confidence never disappeared.
“It’s been tough, but like I always say, come every day and play hard and do your thing and not chase results,” he said. “At the same time, you believe you can do it and today was an example — six RBI, two homers, a grand slam. That’s awesome.”
Asked if it will be another year that when the weather heats up, he heats up, Suarez said, “Of course. Like I said, it’s been tough, but I know what I can do. This game is hard, y’know, but I enjoy coming here and doing it for my team, for my teammates.”
To start the game, Burns gave up a one-out double to Bo Bichette, but struck out the side.
He pitched a 1-2-3 second with two strikeouts and a 1-2-3 third with a strikeout.
Whether it was sitting in the dugout for a long time while his teammates mashed or if he relaxed too much with a 9-0 lead after two innings, he struggled in the fourth and fifth. He needed 33 pitches to cover the fourth and labored through the fifth.
He was done after five with 100 pitches, but he had done enough to lift his record to 8-1 and lower his earned run average to 2.01.
And it was his 11th straight start of giving up two or fewer runs.
For the Mets, the game was beyond frustrating. They had the bases loaded with one out three times and didn’t score. They stranded 12 runners and were 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position. And that one hit only advanced a runner from second to third.
They filled the bases with one out in the fourth, but Burns got a pop-up from Marcus Semien and struck out Brett Baty.
They loaded the bases in the fifth but after falling behind on Juan Soto 2-and-0, Burns retired him on a foul pop-up and retired Jared Young on a soft line drive to center.
The Mets filled ‘em up again with one out in the seventh against Caleb Ferguson, but he struck out Springboro-native A.J. Ewing and Chase Petty came in and retired Marcus Semien on one pitch a ground ball.
Petty pitched the eighth and needed only five pitches to get four outs, then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, ending the game by striking out Vidal Brujan, the 11th strikeout by Reds pitchers, earning the 19,353 fans free pizza, if they cared to collect it.
“I put myself in some tough situations, but I was able to bear down and focus up to use some good pitches and get out of it,” said the always taciturn Burns.
Asked if is tough to pitch with a big lead, Burns said, “If anything, it gives me more confidence, gives me a little more leeway. The mentality is the same. I just go out there and do my job.”
The big one, though, was when he fell behind Soto 2-and-0 in the fifth with the bases loaded and one out..
“It’s not a good situation to be in because he can get you at any moment,” he said. “Like I said earlier, it was just bearing down and making pitches.”
And he got Soto to pop out.
He did, though, appreciate the rare offensive explosion, especially from Suarez.
“That’s a huge confidence booster for me,” he said. “I can go out there and not relax, but having a good lead is good. The hitters did a good job tonight.”
It stayed 9-0 from the second through the seventh — the Reds had only one hit in that span. But Matt McLain walked to lead the eighth, Tyler Stephenson singled and with two outs JJ Bleday ripped his 13th homer, a three-run jolt to make it 12-0.
Manager Tito Francona’s demeanor always is the same whether the Reds win 12-0 or lose 12-0.
Of Burns’ night, he said, “There was a lot of sitting for him, which I don’t think he’ll complain about. But there were some deep counts, walks. . .they had runners on base all the time until Petty came in. We were fortunate in that our guys made pitches when they absolutely had to because we gave up six walks, stuff to clean up.”
Of Suarez’s two homers, he said, “The second one (grand slam) was really big because it came with two outs to add four there.”
Asked about Suarez’s slow start, Francona said, “That’s never an issue. He is one of the best guys you’ll ever meet. He’s done it before. Normally when it warms up, the good hitters do it, too.”