Brock Burke takes blown save after drop in center

Pagán headed for a medical evaluation on his sore pitching hand. “We’re gonna get him looked at. If he checks out, good. But I just wanna make sure he’s OK,” manager Terry Francona said. Tejay Antone and Brock Burke look like a short-term closer committee for the Reds while this gets figured out.

Entrusted with a three-run lead in the ninth, Burke bent but didn’t break as he retired Alika Williams and Jonathan Ornelas after the homer to lock down the save. Emilio Pagán had thrown two days in a row and remains Cincinnati’s closer.

Pagán wrapped up a minor league rehab assignment over the weekend and will regain his role as Cincinnati’s closer. The 35-year-old veteran stopper has been out since early May working his way back from a hamstring strain. He should be rostered in all fantasy leagues based on his track record and minimal in-house competition with the Reds.

If you’re gonna get your first save of the season, do it against a team you were employed with for a long time. Burke isn’t likely to see many more save chances going forward.

The 29-year-old southpaw moved from the Angels to the Rays and then to the Reds as part of a three-team deal that sent Josh Lowe to the Angels and Gavin Lux to the Rays. Burke was a key cog in the Halos’ bullpen in 2025, compiling a 3.36 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and a 52/18 K/BB ratio across 61 2/3 innings. He’ll add a valuable left-handed arm to the back end of the Reds’ bullpen.

The 29-year-old southpaw didn’t even get to try on a uniform with the Rays as he was subsequently flipped to the Reds for Gavin Lux as part of the three-team swap on Friday.

The Rays would seem to be giving up some upside here, but the 27-year-old Lowe just hasn’t shown the same ability the last two years that he did in 2023. In his place comes Lux, who showed very little power last year but can provide on-base ability and fit at second. This trade seems like good news for Chandler Simpson, as a left-handed bat has been removed from the outfield mix. It’s also good for Sal Stewart in Cincinnati, not that Stewart really should have been blocked by Lux for infield or DH at-bats. Lowe will probably get to step in as the Angels’ center fielder against right-handers, and he still might have some mixed-league value with his stolen base ability.

Burke did a nice job in his first full season with the Angels, picking up seven wins and 15 holds while amassing a 3.36 ERA in relief. This will be his final season before he becomes eligible for free agency at age 30.

Burke, 28, pitched after opener Tyler Gilbert worked a scoreless inning. The right-hander pitched well until the fifth inning, but he gave up a solo homer to Jacob Wilson and three more runs charged to him after departing an inning later. Burke has not been all that much more effective since moving to the bulk role, and he isn’t a recommended option whatsoever whenever he pitches in this role again.

Pretty much everyone in the Angels pen besides Anderson was burnt out coming into this one — and even Anderson, who threw 11 pitches Tuesday, was going back-to-back days — but the team decided against calling up anyone. Anderson took over with a 5-3 lead in the seventh and blew the lead then. Even so, he was left in with the score tied to open the eighth. All three batters then reached against him, two of them while trying to sac bunt. Brock Burke, working for the third time in four days, took over and allowed the three runners to score before giving up four runs of his own. The Angels then used Reid Detmers, who has never been a reliever before and threw 40 pitches Monday, to finish the game off. It’s really pretty disgusting that the Angels didn’t protect their guys by bringing up a fresh arm, but they hoped to get away with it in advance of having Thursday off.