By Hal McCoy
Who’s your daddy?
On Father’s Day, the Cincinnati Reds continued to show that Yankee pin-stripes don’t cause them to melt into sweaty puddles on the Yankee Stadium grass.
On Sunday afternoon, the Reds applied a 4-1 defeat on the Bronx Bombers to take the series two games to one.
The Reds are 14-12 in the history of the series, the only team in all of MLB to own a winning record against the Yankees.
Chase Burns isn’t frightened of the Mighty Men of Manhattan, even on days when he was not an overwhelming dominator.
Nevertheless, he held the Yankees to one-run and five hits over five innings, his 12th straight game of holding opponents to two or fewer runs.
“You’re not going to feel your best every time, you are not going to have your swing-and-miss stuff every time, but you just go out there and put up as many zeros as possible,” he said.
No matter how good or mediocre his stuff is, Burns has the flair on the mound displayed by master magicians, which is why he is 9-1 with a 2.00 earned run average.
“I was trying to be too pretty, trying to hit the corners too much,” said Burns, a stern critic of himself. “That’s a great team that battles really hard.”
Nearly a year ago, Burns made his major league debut against the Yankees and also pitched five innings, but gave up three runs on six hits, with no walks and struck out eight.
He struck out the first four Yankees that day, but on Sunday he was critical of that performance, too.
“I’ve changed alot,” he said. “Last year I was just throwing every pitch as hard as I could. This year, just developing as a pitcher has been huge. I’ve made some huge strides.”
And pitching in Yankee Stadium was special.
“It’s a dream come true,” he said. “I was a (Derek) Jeter fan growing up, so playing in this stadium was huge for me.”
Chase’s only blemish came in the third inning when he gave up a solo home run to Ben Rice. But was it a blemish? It was a 98 miles an hour fastball up around Rice’s forehead.
“That leadoff kid (Rice), I don’t know how many guys I’ve seen hit that ball that way off Chase,” said Reds Manager Tito Francona. “Thatwas up above the strike zone at 98. That kid is prettry special.”
That gave the Yankees a 1-0 until until the Reds came to bat in the fourth inning.
It was Yankees ace Gerit Cole’s turn to pitch, but manager Aaron Boone backed him up a day and called up Elmer Rodriguez from Triple-A to make the start.
The Reds put two runners on in the first and had a runner on second in the third, but didn’t score.
Rodriguez walked Nathaniel Lowe on four pitches to open the fourth, then struck out both Spencer Steer and Eugenio Suarez.
But Noelvi Marte singled and Tyler Stephenson reversed a 3-and-1 center-cut fastball 401 feet into the Yankees bullpen in left center, a three-run rip that gave the Reds a 3-1 lead.
“I saw some good pitches from him (Rodriguez) my first at bat (a ground ball to shortstop),” said Stephenson. “In that situation (the home run at bat), I have to be aggressive and I know a heater is coming. I just wanted to get the head out and pull the ball.”
From there, after Burns left, the bullpen of Sam Moll, Caleb Ferguson and Tony Santillan kept the blue bats the Yankees were swinging silent the rest of the way.
Especially Santillan.
Francona called upon Santillan, much troubled in May, to pitch the final two innings. And did he ever. Six up and six down on a mere 16 pitches for his first career two-inning save.
“Somebody needed to go two innings today,” Francona. “When Chase came out after five, we were going to give everybody a chance.
“And both our lefties (Moll, Ferguson) ran up their pitch counts so that wasn’t going to work,” he added. “So we brought Tony in with the hopes that would happen.”
What happened was something not even Francona thought could happen.
“I think Santillan is one of the most ultimate competitors you’ll ever see,” he said. “It was killing him when it wasn’t going well.
“There was a Saturday night game that he gave up a couple of home runs,” said Francona. “On Sunday morning, he threw on the side. He was so bound and determined that he needed to get back on the mound. He has a big heart, man.”
Of Stephenson’s game-determining home run, Francona said, “Man, he whacked that 3-and-1 pitch. That was so needed. It changed the whole game with one swing. And it was good for our pitching to make it hold up.”
Amazingly, on Saturday the Yankees put runners on base in all nine innings, but lost, 10-2. On Sunday they put runners on base in each of the first seven innings — 16 straight innings until Santillan put a stop to it.
For the series, the Yankees, occupants of first place in the American League East, were 0 for 22 with runners in scoring position and stranded 18.
After taking two of three from the New York Mets and two of three from the New York Yankees, the Reds have won two straight series for the first time since late April.
And now comes a major opportunity. Beginning Monday night in Great American Ball Park, the Reds play their next 10 games against National League Central rivals Milwaukee and Pittsburgh.
Seven are against the Brewers, three in Cincinnati and four in Milwaukee, with three in Pittsburgh tucked in the middle.
The Reds are 2-13 this season against the National League Central and they haven’t played the first-place Brewers, a team that has dominated the Reds the past few seasons.