Reds Beat: Chase Burns Impressive In Brief Stint Friday, Matt McLain Shines at Short in 6-1 Win Over Giants

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Chase Burns was electric in his shorter than planned appearance Friday.

He tossed just 24 pitches – 17 strikes – and allowed only a double by Matt Chapman in his two innings of work, striking out two and walking none. He had complete command of his fastball and slider and looked ready to go his scheduled four innings – except for one thing. He was told Thursday that he had been throwing a lot lately and that he was only going to go two innings against the Giants at Scottsdale Stadium. Burns threw 18 fastballs and six sliders.

Could this be an abundance of caution with the injuries to starter Hunter Greene and reliever Caleb Ferguson? Could it be they just want to make sure he doesn’t overdo it in spring training. Or could he be getting prepared to take a slot in the bullpen, with the possibility of Rhett Lowder and Brandon Williamson filling out the rotation in the No. 4 and No. 5 slots?

Burns gave the impression after that he is still battling for a rotation spot. Manager Terry Francona left no doubt after the 6-1 win over the Giants, Burns is still ramping up to be a starter, not a reliever.

“Oh yeah, oh yeah,” the skipper said. “He’s good. I mean, shoot, he was, I think 24 pitches. He was tremendous.”

As for scaling him back, the Reds and pitching coach Derek Johnson are doing something called de-loading, taking off reps or, in this case, innings.

“I think the way DJ (described it), I think it’s almost like a almost like a de-load,” Francona explained. “It’s a little different than everybody else. This kid’s still working through some of his routines and stuff, and he had a good five days like with the trainers and stuff, working on the flexibility and the mobility. We just want to make sure that he’s gonna be good. He’s good to go. It might cost him an inning but he’s okay.”

“I think one of the starting positions, one of the starting pitchers,” Burns said before adding, “So I really don’t care where they put me. I just want to be able to be on the team.”

Whatever the case may be, he was impressive in his brief stint Friday and most importantly, he was only too happy to convey that he felt strong and good after his fourth appearance of spring, a game won by the Reds, 6-1, before 8,649 at Scottsdale Stadium to improve them to 10-9 on the spring.

“It was just a planned deal,” Burns said. “I’ve been throwing a lot, so it’s not my thing to say. (The decision is) higher than me but that’s it, really.

“I felt great. Everything was working really well. I was able to attack with everything. It seems like that was the thing even wanted to do this whole spring is, you know, work ahead, throw strikes. … I think that’s the name of the game for me, is just getting ahead. I can tend to get deep into counts because of balls, but then you get strike one, and keep attacking. (I just want to) keep working on my craft. Keep working on my body, mobility, all kinds of stuff.”

As for that fifth rotation spot, with Hunter Greene out until July?

“Honestly, I didn’t think about it,” Burns said. “I wish Hunter was healthy. I’m just competing and trying to win a spot.”

Matt McLain tripled and scored in the first and made a pair of nice plays at short in the bottom of the inning, including fielding a bad hop over his head and throwing onto first for the final out of the inning. McLain went 1-for-4 on the afternoon. McLain, now batting .543, has a hit in 11 of the 12 games he’s played this spring.

Will Benson was 1-for-1 with a pair of walks and scored twice and looked strong running the bases, including scoring from first on a Nathaniel Lowe double in the fifth, just beating a good relay throw from the outfield with a head-first slide into home.

“In the mornings when we win, we always have MVPs and stuff,” Francona said. “I told him after the first one, I said, ‘You’re working on it,’ and after the second one, I’m like, ‘You’re a lock, because those are important.’ Those are things we got to do, and he lives it out really well.”