RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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SAN FRANCISCO – Not that there's ever a good time for a big-league pitcher to have one of his worst career starts.
But when Chase Burns headed off the mound in the fourth inning after a loud-contact, 5-0 loss to the woeful San Francisco Giants , his best shot at staying in the National League Cy Young race might have exited with him.
The Cincinnati Reds ' All-Star right-hander in his first full season in the majors gave up two runs before he got an out and five before he got a sixth out against a lefty-packed Giants lineup that squared up so many of his pitches that even the outs were loud – not to mention the foul ball Turner Hill belted into the bay.
The last time the Giants' lineup looked that good, Buster Posey was in it as an All-Star catcher – not running it into the ground as a second-year head of baseball operations.
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Until this one, the Giants ranked last in the majors in reaching base (.305 on-base percentage) and were the only team in the National League scoring less often than the Reds this season (4.02 runs per game vs. 4.10).
“They kind of ambushed him early,” manager Terry Francona said. “You don’t see that very often.”
The Giants hit him so hard so often it was reminiscent of the worst start of Burns' career, last year in his his second start, when he didn't get out of the first at Fenway Park against the Red Sox because he was tipping his pitches.
Manager Terry Francona said a combination of missing with his fastball in the hitting zones of the Giants' lefties and a less-sharp sliders were the culprits this time.
Either way, the former No. 2 overall draft pick – who signed a $105 million extension last month – suffered just his third loss of the season and watched his ERA jump more than a quarter-point to 2.77.
Until then, he was in a three-way battle with Philadelphia's Cristopher Sanchez (7.1) and Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski (5.5) for the top spot in NL pitching WAR at 5.0. And third in ERA (2.51) behind Misiorowski (1.68) and Atlanta's Chris Sale (2.20).
The rest of Burns' projected starts this season include heavy doses of contenders such as the Cubs, Brewers (twice), Dodgers and Braves.
Burns has downplayed the Cy Young race this season.
The bigger picture subplot to his first full season has been finishing a full big-league season in the rotation and what that might mean for his workload management down the stretch, as the Reds eye a long, healthy career filled with the kind of success he has enjoyed most of this year.
That's part of why Francona didn't wait around in the fourth and No. 2 hitter Rafael Devers up again after slugging the first home run against Burns this month in his previous at-bat.
“Once I thought we could get through the game and not have it affect tomorrow, that’s when I went and got him,” Francona said.
Sixty-four pitches was plenty after all the traffic and laboring through 3 2/3 innings.
“We know we need to keep an eye on this kid,” Francona said recently, adding that the team doesn’t have a “hard and fast” innings limit for Burns.
The big thing is to get him through the end of the season still making starts.
“We don’t want to be messing around next year thinking, ‘God, we didn’t get him far enough,’ “ Francona said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds' Chase Burns clobbered by Giants in worst start of season
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