Jesús Luzardo kept the Phillies close, but Chase Burns’ swing-and-miss stuff quieted a lineup that had been rolling.
Trea Turner crushed his fifth home run of the season in the third inning on Tuesday to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead over the Reds.
Ranger Suárez in Boston last Thursday. Then Chase Burns on Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies’ southpaw did his part, delivering six innings of two-run ball against Cincinnati. Luzardo allowed five hits, walked one and punched out five over 95 pitches before handing it over to a bullpen that could not keep the deficit at 2-1.
Tanner Banks was tagged for two runs in the seventh, and that was enough on a night when the Phillies had few answers at the plate in their 4-1 loss to the Reds. One of the hottest offenses in the game could not get much going against Burns, who entered with the second-lowest ERA in the National League behind only Cristopher Sánchez. Burns, who was born in Naples, Italy, was selected second overall in the 2024 Draft.
It was the second time in three days the Phillies faced a pitcher drafted within the top two picks, joining Paul Skenes at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. The last time the Phillies beat two top-two selections in a three-game span was in 1989 against Tim Leary and Tim Belcher of the Dodgers. Burns went six innings, allowed one run on three hits and racked up nine strikeouts. He did not walk a batter.
His fastball averaged 98.4 mph, which sits in the top five percent of average heater velocity in the game. His command was strong all night, and he did it with a three-pitch mix, similar to Phillies lefty ace Sánchez. Burns got ahead of 60 percent of the hitters he faced, but the swing-and-miss was what shut down the Phillies. The Reds right-hander entered in the top seven percent of pitchers in whiff rate at 33.8 percent.
On Tuesday, he got Phillies hitters to swing and miss 43 percent of the time. That is the 13th-highest mark by a starting pitcher this season in an outing of six-plus innings. His slider generated a 64 percent whiff rate on the 22 he threw, using it 38 percent of the time. At one point, Burns had struck out five consecutive Phillies.
The weather actually helped keep the Phillies in the game for a good stretch of the night, thanks to Luzardo’s performance. The skies in South Philadelphia looked like they might not hold up. Instead, the wind became the bigger factor. He surrendered a triple to Elly De La Cruz, which deflected off Justin Crawford’s glove in center, then allowed a single to Spencer Steer that kept De La Cruz at third.
Luzardo then issued a walk to rookie Sal Stewart. With wind gusts over 15 mph blowing north, Reds outfielder Dane Myers hit a deep fly ball to right that hugged the foul line and stayed in the park. Adolis García made the catch, and instead of an extra-base hit, it was only a sacrifice fly. A similar sequence followed with JJ Bleday.
The outfielder drove a Luzardo fastball 101.9 mph and 380 feet to center. The wind appeared to keep it from traveling out to dead center, and Crawford made the grab. Luzardo struck out the next batter to end the inning. He has struggled mightily with runners on base, so only two runs scoring on outs — not hits — was at least an encouraging sign and kept him in the start.
Trea Turner blasted his fifth homer of the season, extending his hitting streak to six games. The Phillies’ shortstop is starting to find it in the back end of May, and his swing Tuesday showed some of the adjustments he has been making.
Turner entered the night with a .236 average and a career-low pull percentage. In the bottom of the third, after Luzardo escaped trouble, Turner watched a first-pitch slider out of the zone. On the next pitch, Burns went back to the hard slider and missed again — this time over the middle of the plate. Turner, who currently has a career-low hard-hit rate, could use that swing as something to build on.
If he starts pulling the ball with more authority, it adds another layer to the top of the order, especially ahead of Kyle Schwarber, who was out of the lineup for the second consecutive day, and Bryce Harper. The Phils will look for the series win again Wednesday. They’ll face Cincinnati lefty Andrew Abbott, who carries a 4.35 ERA in four career starts against the Phillies. Aaron Nola will toe the slab in a much-needed bounce-back opportunity.
The Phillies’ longest-tenured player has three starts this season in which he has allowed five or more earned runs. In seven of his nine starts, he has allowed at least three earned. It might not be the number of baserunners, but Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott combined for three of the Phillies’ four as their recent hot hitting continued.
The Phillies, who entered the night 16-4 under interim manager Don Mattingly, did not look like a team that will back down Wednesday.
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