By Hal McCoy
As a $785,000 employee, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Chase Burns was 11-1.
As a $105 million employee, Burns is now 12-1..
Making his first start since signing his seven-year contract extension, Burns displayed once again why he is worth every penny, nickel, dime, quarter and dollar.
Burns did his thing, then he and his teammates held their breath while the bullpen wobbled, as usual, before it end with a 4-2 Reds win over the Seattle Mariners Tuesday night.
Burns pitched five scoreless, three-hit innings, then turned a 3-0 lead over to the bullpen, which nearly gave it away.
On too many nights, the Reds’ bullpen couldn’t close an automated garage door.
For Burns, it was his 11th straight win in his last 11 starts, but he could only last five innings because six full counts ballooned his pitch count to 91.
Burns is at 107 2/3 innings, territory he has never covered before, meaning the Reds need to keep a tight watch on him the rest of the way.
“He gets it, he’s a pretty sharp kid,” said Reds manager Tito Francona. “He loves competing, but we do have to keep an eye on him. I told him there will come a day when he’ll be out there for two more innings. But it’s just not now.”
Offensively, three of the Reds’ four runs came on solo home runs, their modus operandi these days. Over the last three games, 20 of the team’s 23 runs came via home runs.
Elly De La Cruz led the game by working Seattle starter and former Reds pitcher Luis Castillo to eight pitches. The eighth pitch was driven into the seats, Cincinnti’s first home run leading off a game this season.
Former Mariner Eugenio Suarez, facing his close friend Castillo, led the fourth inning with a first-pitch home run.
After bullpenners Tejay Antone and Julian Garcia both gave up home runs in the seventh (Weston Wilson) and eighth (Julio Rodriguez), the Mariners were within 3-2.
Then Nathaniel Lowe led the ninth with a home run, the team’s third leadoff home run, to give closer Emilio Pagan more space, a 4-2 lead, and he closed it with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Of the three home runs, Francona said, “That was a good thing, because we certainly didn’t have a bunch of hits (five). And they kept coming and we made it harder than we should have.
“A bunch of walks and we had to pitch out of some things of our own making,” he added.
After Antone gave up the seventh inning home run, he issued a two-out walk. Brock Burke came in and walked the first two to fill the bases. He escaped by coaxing a ground ball from Josh Naylor, who had three hits in his three previous at bats.
As poorly as the Reds played defensively in an 8-0 loss Monday, they were the polar opposite Tuesday with flawless, flashy defene.
In the fifth inning, center fielder TJ Friedl ran the 40-yard dash then made a diving catch on Cole Young’s double-bound line drive.
On the next play, Randy Arozarena hit one over the third base bag. Suarez backhanded it and his momentum carried him into the third base coaching box. He turned and made a jump throw to first for the out.
“That’s how I used to do it all the time,” said the 35-year-old third baseman/designated hitter.
Then came a play by shortstop De La Cruz.
in the sixth. The Mariners had runners on second and first with one out.
Rodriguez drilled one into the hole. De La Cruz backhanded while belly-flopping to the ground, rolled over and threw to second from his back for a force out.
“I thought Elly made a game-saving play,” said Francona. “At the time, if that ball goes through, we’re in a world of trouble. That was a really, really big play in the game.
“They had a couple of men on base and that ball was going into left field and that was going to be rough,” he added.
It was a day De La Cruz displayed all his assets — power with the home run, defense with the diving play and speed when he went from first to third on a wild pickoff throw.
Once again, though, Burns was front and center, even when he doesn’t have his best stuff.
“He competes,” said Francona. “He didn’t have his bet fastball, but his slider is such a weapon it is really an equalizer.”
Burns is aptly named, Chase, because hitters constantly chase his slider that dives into the dirt.
And when trouble surfaces, Burns is at his best.
The Mariners had two on via a couple of singles with one out in the second and Burns struck out Colt Emerson and Weston Wilson.
He was on repeat cycle in the fourth when the Mariners had two on with no outs after a walk and a single. He struck out Luke Raley, retired Victor Robles on a fly ball and struck out Emerson again.
About those escape acts, Francona placed Burns in some lofty company.
“The good ones can,” he said. “It’s like Justin Verlander, who is kinda like his own reliever. Chase has a lot of those traits.”