But they got the pitching Monday in Great American Ball Park during a 2-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates — pitching, pitching and more pitching.
It was Chase Burns, Jose Franco, Graham Ashcraft and Connor Phillips holding the Pirates to four hits as the Reds won their third straight game.
Burns provided five innings of no runs, one hit, three walks and seven strikeouts for his first major league victory in his ninth start.
Franco, a man with a mile-wide smile, was called up from Triple-A Louisville on Opening Day when Nick Lodolo was placed on the injured list, made his major league debut.
He contributed 1 2/3 innings and gave up no runs and three hits.
Ashcraft’s night was 1 1/3 perfect innings and he struck out three of the four hitters he faced. Franco gave up a couple of hits in the seventh and Ashcraft came in with two on and two outs.
He struck out Henry Davis, then started the eighth with two more strikeouts.
With closer Emilio Pagan, Tony Santillian and Pierce Johnson unavailable. Phillips was thrust into the ninth-inning closer’s role and promptly walked the first two Pirates.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Then he went 1-2-3 for his first major league save.
Offensively, there wasn’t much there for the Reds, just enough to put a ‘W’ next to their name. Like the Pirates, the manufactured only four hits.
But three came in the fourth inning against Pittsburgh starter Braxton Ashcraft (no relation to Graham).
Elly De La Cruz opened the fourth with a single, but was caught stealing.
Sal Stewart, the rookie get-on-base-machine, walked. Suarez singled, sending Stewart to third.
Stewart scored on Spencer Steer’s sacrifice fly and Suarez scored on Will Benson’s triple to the right field corner to make it 2-0.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
And that was it. No more offense. After Benson’s hit, the Reds didn’t get another hit and had two baserunners over the final four innings, both on walks.
On this night, though, it was immaterial.
Burns didn’t give up a hit until Spencer Horwitz singled to start the fifth, But Burns worked out of it, striking out the last two Pirates he faced to complete his 87-pitch night.
Only eight Reds reached base and, of course, Stewart was aboard three times with a single and two walks and he scored the first run after he was named co-National League Player of the Week before the game.
He is only the second rookie since 1957 to reach base three times in four straight games, joining Cleveland’s Steven Kwan in 2022.
In addition, first baseman Stewart started the difficult 3-6-3 double play in the sixth after Pittsburgh’s Brandon Lowe began the inning with a single.
In addition to pitching, the Reds have done what Weaver said needs to be done. Display fundamentals. In their first four games the Reds have not committed an error.
And what kind of guy is Stewart? During a pre-game interview he told reporters, “How lucky am I to play with a glove and a ball?”
The game’s biggest drama came when Phillips entered the game in the ninth trying to protect a 2-0 lead, trying to get a save in his first opportunity.
He promptly threw eight balls in his first nine pitches and walked the first two Pirates.
Out of the dugout trudged pitching coach Derek Johnson and Phillips said he was told, “Trust yourself. We know your stuff is good and I know it’s good. Throw the ball in the strike zone and I should be all right.”
And he was. He struck out Jared Triolo and coaxed pop flies from Spencer Horwitz and Nick Gonzales and the first MLB save was his.
Phillips said he sensed he might be the ninth-inning guy on this night.
“It came down to us in the bullpen knowing that Pagan, Tony (Santillan) and Pierce (Johnson) were all down,” Phillips told reporters. “I kinda had an idea and I thought I was ready for it.”
He said he thought he was ready and then he laughed.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
“I had a lot of emotions and I didn’t throw many strikes early and put myself in a little pickle there,” he said. “Then I started making the pitches and got out of there.
“The save was pretty cool,” he added. “Me and Emilio talked about it quite a bit this off-season. Obviously, he is going to get a ton of saves. I told him, ‘Hey, I need a couple.’”
Phillips began his career as a starter but was agreeable to switching to the bullpen and said, “Whenever I decided to make this move to the bullpen, my ultimate goal is to be a back-end guy pitching leverage innings and make an impact for the team every single night.”
It doesn’t get more leveraged than Monday and he couldn’t have made a bigger impact.”
About Burns, manager Tito Francona told reporters, “I’ve said it a million times, as he works ahead in the count, and he will, he’ll get better at it. Then it gets very exciting. The starters on both sides (Burns, Ashcraft) were electric.”
While Burns was happy with the results, he knows he has to work more ahead in the counts and limit the walks — three Monday.
“I have to stay within myself, not try to do too much,” said Burns told reporters. “I need to fill up the zone. I had some walks tonight, still had some bad counts. I finished some pitches, executed some good ones.”
But no runs and one hit over five innings. It’s definitely a keeper.
And as Weaver also said, “The reason you win or lose is darn near always the same — pitching.”
It was Monday for the Reds.
NEXT GAME
Who: Pirates at Reds
When: 6:40 p.m.
TV: Reds.TV
Radio: 1410-AM
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