Reds Beat: Starting With Chase Burns, Reds Show They’re ‘Not Scared’, Have Something Special In Dramatic Win Over Yankees

CINCINNATI — Terry Francona knows what big wins are like against the Yankees.

The Reds manager had countless moments like Tuesday night when he was manager of the Red Sox from 2004-11 and in Cleveland for 11 seasons after that.

He wouldn’t go down that path after Tuesday’s 5-4 heartpounding win in 11 innings. But from. “Let’s Go Yankees” chants being answered with “Yankees Suck” chants to the home crowd going full throat every time a Yankee rally was squashed late in the game, Great American Ball Park has a definitive Fenway Park vibe.

And if you’ve ever been to a Red Sox-Yankee game at Fenway when the Red Sox rally late, you felt the same at GABP Tuesday night.

Like those Red Sox, the Reds are sending a loud, clear message that they are here to stay in the three-month race for playoff position in the National League.

When Gavin Lux singled home Elly De La Cruz with the winning run, the Reds mobbed the guy who was a fan for most of the game, watching like the rest of the 39,257 in attendance at the compelling and sensational debut of Chase Burns.

There was so much to digest on another sweltering late-June night. Burns, the second overall pick from one year ago, striking out the first five batters he faced against the iconic team he grew up cheering. The eight strikeouts without a walk.

“That was pretty cool,” Francona said. “I don’t know if you guys noticed, but there was a couple small little adjustments I talked to him about. We kind of watch for everything. And he didn’t get too excited. I think he enjoyed the competition. There’s a lot to like.”

Then Francona gave some love to Eddie Lehr, the Reds scout that signed Burns.

“I could go kiss him right on the lips,” Francona joked. “He was probably a little over-amped, because you could tell he was starting to run out of gas.”

Burns was done after 81 pitches and eight strikeouts, with remarkably no walks.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t amped up, but I felt at ease,” Burns said. “If anything, definitely emotions were high, but I could just go out there and smile. So it was fun to do, but that’s all I can say. It’s so fun.”

It was fun for his teammates, too, including Tyler Stephenson, who caught and called his first big league game.

“Just the maturity, it shows,” Stephenson said of the 22-year-old Burns. “They go out and they hit the home run and they score a couple runs, and then he is just kind of unfazed and goes right back out the next inning and attacks. When he’s attacking the zone, just throw strikes, and you’re going to be in a really, really good spot.”

The loudest roar of the crowd this season when Christian Encarnacion-Strand tied the game with a double in the seventh when the Reds looked dead on a vine after six.

The effort of a bullpen that has been stretched to its limits, with the likes of Ian Gibaut, Brent Suter, Lyon Richardson, Tony Santillan and Connor Phillips answering the bell and not allowing an earned run in six innings of work. Santillan popping out Aaron Judge with the bases loaded to end the tenth. Elly De La Cruz rounding second base and forgetting for a moment that the game wasn’t over on Spencer Steer’s RBI single in the 11th, just tied, and then scoring on Lux’s single.

It was the first time in 31 tries that the Reds won a game when they trailed after six.

Tuesday night classified as one of those games that felt like much more than just another number in the win column. It felt electric at Great American Ball Park.

“I was excited, not to sit tonight but to get to watch Chase throw,” Lux said of his pinch-hitting role in the 11th. “Wow, that guy, his stuff was electric. And he’s not scared at all. So to see him come in here against one of the best lineups in baseball and just go to work and not be scared at all and just attack guys. It was fun to watch it. We’re just playing good team baseball right now. A lot of good at bats, even before the walk off. Steve-O (Stephenson) taking a huge walk, Elly getting a hit, CES obviously, the three run double, we’re just playing good team baseball.”

The Reds had a players meeting after they were beaten by Milwaukee, 9-1, at Great American Ball Park on June 4. They knew they had to clean things up and have answered the bell, winning 12 of 17 since.

“We had a good kind of sit down with everybody, and I feel like since then, that’s when we’ve been kind of playing our version of baseball that we know we can play, so it’s contagious,” Stephenson said. “We’ve got the group, we’re all pulling for each other, and it’s fun, and we’re having fun. Usually good things happen, so just keep having fun, and there’s a lot of joy coming into the park every day.”

The Reds continue to prove they can handle the very best the American League has to offer. Maybe that’s a part of the magic Francona brings from his years in Boston and Cleveland. But first, the Reds need to show they can handle the best of the National League, against the teams they’ll actually be battling for playoff position this August and September. The Padres and Phillies will provide exactly that challenge in the next two weekends.