Cincinnati Reds phenom Chase Burns on Monday went from a memorable major league debut to a miserable second start against the Boston Red Sox.
After becoming the first starting pitcher in the expansion era to strike out the first five major league hitters he faced against the New York Yankees on Tuesday last week, the 22-year-old right-hander was tagged for seven runs, five earned, and got only one out as the Red Sox beat the Reds 13-6.
Trevor Story hit a three-run homer in the first inning as Boston collected five hits and had two walks.
Photo: AFP
“I hope it doesn’t get in the way of his next start,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “That’s tough. Tough on him, tough on us. A lot of people were putting their arm around him. He’s a good kid. It’ll be real interesting to see his next start.”
Burns, selected second overall by the Reds in the amateur draft, walked the leadoff batter, Jarren Duran, on a 99.9mph (160.8kph) fastball.
“Just trying to flush it and go back to the drawing board, see what works and what didn’t work, and go from there,” Burns said.
Francona was asked if he might have been tipping his pitches.
“That’s something that you always probably need to check,” he said. “He threw some pitches that caught a lot of the plate and they were definitely looking [fastball], and those are always things we try to check for.”
Francona went on to say that one of his former players — Red Sox manager Alex Cora — is good at picking things up.
“Cora is one of the best at that,’’ he said. “They were certainly ready, they were coming out hacking and they were squaring it up pretty good.”
Burns did not know if that could have been part of his problem, despite throwing a fastball near 100mph with a hard slider in the upper 80s.
“I don’t know. They put a lot of good swings on a lot of good pitches, a lot of mistakes out there,” he said. “Couldn’t really tell you.”
His defense also let him down when Roman Anthony hit a grounder that second baseman Matt McLain threw into short left field, attempting to get a force.
Abraham Toro lined a single to left for the first run and Carlos Narvaez followed by hitting the next pitch for an RBI double off the Green Monster. After a groundout, Story belted a 1-1 slider into the center-field bleachers, making it 5-0.
Story took some extra batting practice on the field about three-and-a-half hours before the game, hitting fastballs. It might have been part of Boston’s plan.
“He’s got electric stuff,” Story said. “I think we as an offense, we had a really good plan, and we were very convicted. We practiced the execution all day, and the execution really came out today during the game.”
David Hamilton added an RBI single and Francona lifted Burns after his second walk.
Anthony added an RBI single against Brent Suter, completing Burns’ pitching line.
Elsewhere, the Phillies thrashed the Padres 4-0, the Blue Jays edged the Yankees 5-4, the Pirates crushed the Cardinals 7-0, the Mariners sank the Royals 6-2, the Diamondbacks downed the Giants 4-2, the Athletics stung the Rays 6-4 and the Orioles overcame the Rangers 10-6 in 11 innings.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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