Burns Scorches Mets

By Hal McCoy

This was one of those times when they could have marked a ‘W’ next to the Cincinnati Reds in the standings and saved wear and tear on the players by not playing.

With Chase Burns on the mound, good teams struggle.

With Chase Burns on the mound against the injury-wracked New York Mets, it was a mismatch of epic proportions.

And when the Reds scored two runs in the top of the first, they could have turned out the lights and closed up shop Tuesday night in Citi Field.

Burns took it from there. He struck out the side in the first, including Juan Soto on three pitches. His demeanor on the mound is like the Chevy Chase line from Saturday Night Live, “I’m Chase Burns and you’re not.”

He could have taken a no-hitter into the sixth inning because the only hit off him through five innings was a deep fly to right that Blake Dunn misjudged and it fell for a double.

After the two-run first, the Reds kept the offense rolling for a 7-2 victory on 15 hits.

The Mets were on a four-game losing streak and had scored six runs in their last five games. The Reds were on a streak of four wins in their last five games.

Make it five straight losses for the Mets and five wins in their last six for the Reds, who clinched their 10th series win of the season.

Burns ran into trouble in the sixth, three straight hits that included a two-run home run by Soto, his seventh homer in 11 games.

Soto’s home run cut a 6-0 lead to 6-2 and Springboro High School product A.J. Ewing followed the home run with a single,

With the Mets threatening, Sam Moll came in and induced an inning-ending double play out of pinch-hitter Mark Vientos.

Moll then pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, then Pierce Johnson, Brock Burke and Tony Santillan cleaned it up — 3 2/3 innings of no runs, one hit and one walk.

The much-troubled Santillan closed it out with a quick 10-pitch 1-2-3 ninth.

Eugenio Suarez’s two-out two-run double in the first gave the Reds the quick 2-0 lead.

It stayed 2-0 until the fourth when the Reds opened the inning with three straight singles by Dane Myers, JJ Bleday and Tyler Stephenson. All three scored, two on Elly De La Cruz’s two-out two-run double.

Tyler Stephenson drove in the sixth run with a double in the sixth and the Reds put together three more straight two-out singles in the eighth with Sal Stewart’s single driving in the seventh run.

Mets left-hander David Peterson gave up six runs and a career-most 11 hits in five innings. JJ Bleday, a left-handed hitter, had three hits against Peterson and left-handed Sean Manaea.

The night, though, belonged to the young and ultra-confident Burns, 7-1 with a 1.96 earned run average. . .and it isn’t even June.

Teams struggle to get hits off Burns, let alone runs, and his reputation is spreading.

Former major league pitcher Dan Plesac did a full segment on the MLB network on Burns Tuesday afternoon.

“This guy has the Cliff Notes on what a slider should be, an electric slider. I’m telling you, it is deep, it has depth to it, he has great arm speed and it appears to come out in the same slot as his fastball,” said Plesac.

“And he has a powerhouse fastball,” he added. “The life on his fastball has great carry, 99 miles an hour.”

Usually, Burns sets up hitters with his scorching fastball and puts them away with sliders that dive to the dirt, but batters swing at them.

And Tuesday night? Burns was not happy with his slider. He is a tough self-critic.

“My heater was really good tonight, but I felt like I was only throwing one pitch tonight for a strike,” he said. “It (fastball) was working better than the slider. My slider just wasn’t in the zone. It needs to be a little bit better.”

When asked what has made him so successful so far, he said, “Just trusting my stuff, attacking hitters, trying to eliminate walks and let them get themselves out.”

He walked two over his 5 1/3 innings, but struck out eight. In his last four starts, all wins, he has pitched 30 1/3 innings and given up four runs, 16 hits, walked eight and struck out 38.

Burns was appreciative of the early runs and said, “That fires me up in the dugout watching it. That gives me a lot of confidence to go back out there and put up zeros.”

When spring training began, Hunter Greene figured to be the team’s wipe-out ace, but due to surgery he has yet to throw a pitch in an MLB game.

Burns stepped right up and is every bit the team’s ace, the team’s stopper.

Manager Tito Francona was asked, “Should we just expect outings from Burns like this?”

“I hope so,” said Francona. “That’s probably not fair to the kid, but he’s really good. And he’s getting better, that’s what is exciting for us.”

Burns and Sal Stewart were late-season call-ups last year and Francona says that was beneficial.

“So often, when you see kids get called up, Sal’s like that, too, when they come to spring training they’ve been in the big leagues,” said Francona.

“They look, act and feel like they belong,” he added. “You’re seeing the way he carries himself now.”

Not only is Burns carrying himself, he is carrying the team on his young but broad shoulders.