Chase Burns impresses in his debut but Reds lose
Chase Burns, the Cincinnati Reds 1st round draft pick from 2024, made his professional debut of sorts in the 9th inning on Wednesday and struck out three batters while touching 100 MPH multiple times. Hunter Greene also dominated in his outing, but it was a big 5th inning for the Texas Rangers that gave them the win this afternoon.
The Highlights
The Reds grabbed an early lead when Gavin Lux led off the 2nd inning with a double and then scored on a single by Jacob Hurtubise. From there it was the Hunter Greene show for a while. Cincinnati’s ace fired off 4.0 shutout innings while striking out six batters and throwing just 49 pitches during his outing. Not only was he dominant, he was out there bringing the absolute heat. A day after Luis Mey became the first Red to hit 100 MPH this spring, Greene went out and did it seven times and topped out at 101.0 MPH on a strikeout of former Red Tucker Barnhart.
Things did not go the same way for Connor Phillips when he took over in the 5th inning. He walked four of the five batters that he faced while recording just one out. Phillips threw just eight strikes while throwing 25 pitches before he was pulled from the game. Simon Miller took over from there and for the third time this spring he entered the game with the bases loaded. He got out of the jam in the previous two outings but that wasn’t the case here as the second pitch he threw went over the fence in left-center for a grand slam to put Texas up 5-1.
Zach Maxwell threw a shutout 6th inning for Cincinnati. The offense got going in the bottom half of that inning when Santiago Espinal and Jose Trevino had back-to-back 1-out doubles that produced a run. Scott Barlow needed just 11 pitches to pick up two strikeouts in a perfect top of the 7th inning. Once again the offense got something going with one out in the bottom of the frame as Rece Hinds tripled and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Callihan to make it 5-3. Albert Abreu took the mound and threw a shutout 8th inning.
After the Reds were retired in order in the bottom of the inning it was time for 2024’s 1st round pick Chase Burns to take the mound for the first time as a professional after not pitching following his selection in the draft last July. The right-hander topped out at 100.2 MPH and hit 100 four times while striking out three of the four batters he saw – walking the other one.
In their last chance to put runs on the board, the Reds went down in order on strikeouts to lose 5-3.
You can see the box score for the game here.
Game Notes
During the radio broadcast it was noted that Cam Collier, one of the Reds top prospects who was also sent to minor league camp earlier today as part of the first round of cuts, injured his thumb on a play at first base in his last game. There was nothing specific about the injury mentioned but it was said he was going to see a specialist and would likely miss time.
No Red had more than one hit in the game. Jacob Hurtubise and Gavin Lux both had a hit and a walk. Hurtubise is now hitting .583/.688/.917 through 16 trips to the plate while having more walks (3) than strikeouts (2).
Thursday’s Game
There is no game on Thursday as the Reds have the day off. They’ll be back on the field Friday afternoon against the San Francisco Giants.
