Chase Burns dealing with groin soreness

Wrobleski was among the most prominent snubs for the Midsummer Classic. He winds up earning a well-deserved ticket to Philadelphia as a replacement for Reds flame-thrower Chase Burns, who will not pitch in the Midsummer Classic. The 25-year-old southpaw made a real statement in his final first-half outing, piling up nine strikeouts and allowing one run over seven innings against the Rockies earlier this week. He holds a sparkling 2.69 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 73/20 K/BB ratio across 100 1/3 innings of work.

A rare difficult outing for Burns, he didn’t get through a single inning cleanly and felt like he was battling himself all night. His fastball was extremely erratic with just a 44% zone rate and far too many of them wound up at the eyes of the Phillies’ hitters. That issue got worse as the game went on and he wound up being fortunate to get out of this start with just the three runs on his ledger. That’s the mark of a great pitcher though: giving your team a chance to win when you don’t have your best stuff. He’ll head into the All-Star break after an excellent first half with 11 wins, a 2.54 ERA, 118 strikeouts, and 37 walks through 102 2/3 innings.

He struck out only four. Burns’ velocity is dropping some; his 97.1-mph average on his fastball today matched his season low. He’s been under 98 mph in six straight starts after topping that mark in eight of his first 11 starts. His slider is down, too. He averaged 90.8 mph with that pitch in his first 14 starts, but he’s been at 89.6, 89.3 and now 89.1 mph in his last three outings. He’s already at 97 2/3 innings this year after finishing at 109 1/3 in his pro debut last year, so it seems quite possible that fatigue is setting in. He’s due to make his next start Wednesday against the Phillies, which would be his last outing before the break. There’s a good chance he’ll be named to the NL All-Star team, but the Reds might not want him to pitch.

Burns tossed two scoreless innings, then gave up a three-run blast to Brandon Lowe in the third. The Pirates brought another run in on two hits in the fourth. Burns would start the seventh inning, giving up a leadoff double before departing at 93 pitches. The inherited runner would eventually come in to score. Burns struck out ten on the day, his first double-digit strikeout performance of the season. It was just the second outing in which Burns allowed more than three runs. The 23-year-old right-hander will take a 2.36 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and 112/29 K/BB ratio across 91 2/3 innings into a start against the Brewers in Milwaukee on Thursday.

Burns dealt with quite a bit of traffic today, allowing five hits, three walks and six stolen bases, but the only run came on a Ben Rice homer. That was actually also the only hard-hit ball he gave up, as the other four knocks all came on softer contact. Burns won his eighth straight decision, moving to 9-1 with a 2.00 ERA. He’s tied for second in MLB in wins, he’s fourth in ERA and he’s tied for seventh with 102 strikeouts. He’ll get the Pirates next.

Burns gave up four hits, walked three and struck out seven. He improved to 8-1 with the win. Burns had five of his strikeouts in the first two innings and then took the mound in the third inning with a 9-0 lead. He lowered his ERA to 2.01. Burns will face the Yankees on the road on Sunday in his next start.

Burns stranded two runners through two scoreless innings before the Padres broke through for two runs on three hits in the third. He’d go on to pitch into the sixth, giving up two hits with two outs to end his day at a season-high 105 pitches. Burns struck out seven. The 23-year-old right-hander will take a 2.14 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and an 88/23 K/BB ratio across 75 2/3 innings into a start against the Mets in Cincinnati on Monday.

Burns allowed four hits and one walk as his ERA now sits at 2.05 this season. The young righty had his start pushed back from Monday due to an illness, but it didn’t affect his ability to miss bats. He possesses some of the best underlying metrics among all big-league starters and draws a favorable road matchup in San Diego next time out.

Burns draws the starting assignment a couple days after being scratched from Monday’s scheduled start due to illness. The dynamic 23-year-old emerging ace has recorded a spectacular 1.96 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 72/20 K/BB ratio across 64 1/3 innings over 11 starts this season.

Lyon Richardson draws the starting assignment to open a bullpen game for Cincinnati. Burns is expected to take the ball for Wednesday’s series finale after getting some extra time to rest and recover. The hard-throwing 23-year-old rookie struck out eight over 5 1/3 innings to pick up a win over the Mets his last time out. He’s compiled a stellar 1.96 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 72/20 K/BB ratio across 64 1/3 innings over 11 starts this season. Simply put, he’s one of the most electric young arms in baseball.