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Dateline: Goodyear, Arizona
Chase Burns made an important start, his third of the spring. He is battling his buddy, Rhett Lowder, for the last starting pitcher's spot unless the injured Hunter Greene is slow to heal, in which case another spot is up for grabs. Brandon Williamson, who is scheduled to start on Tuesdy (031026) against the Colorado Rockies, is also pushing for a spot.
Williamson, a left hander, has more of an edge with more experience.
Burns was hit hard by the San Diego Padres on Sunday (030826) after allowing one run on two hits in 4 1/3 innings in his other two outings.
Padres center fielder, Jackson Merril, drilled a double in the first inning. Former Red Nick Castellanos walked. Gavin Sheets hit a long, three-run home run.
Pablo Reyes singled and scored on a triple by Jake Cronenworth.
But Burns finished strong. He retired the six batters he faced, logging 3 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on four hits and a walk. He also struck out four, including two of the last three batters.
"I made an adjustment. I felt good and got into some bad counts. I fell behind (on Gavin Sheets). I got in a bad count and I kind of had to serve one up. I served one up to the wrong hitter." Burns said.
Burns got Miguel Andujar to take a bad swing.
"It was a slider, I think," Burns said.
The young pitcher doesn't have the luxury of using the first turns in the rotation to just work on things that Andrew Abbott, Brady Singer and Nick Lodolo have,
"I am still trying to make the team but I'm still working on a lot of stuff. I'm going out there to compete but still working on mechanics and my pitches," Burns said.
Terry Francona liked the way he rebounded after the rough start.
"When he worked ahead (in the count), he was just fine. When he fell behind, he gave up damage," Francona said. "That's been the message the entire time from our pitching guys. Still and he's a pup. The stuffs there and he understands it. As you see his execution improves, you're going to see those good innings."
Chase Petty with an outside chance to make the team, pitched two scoreless innings with two hits a walk and a strikeout.
"When he gets his breaking ball where he wants it, it is that weapon he needs. There's a is a couple that when a ball comes out of his hand. You know its a ball out of his hand, so it is a non competitive pitch. But when he gets on top of it and gets down he's very effective."
The Reds offense was quiet for six innings. Sal Stewart and Francisco Urbaez had harmless singles until Reds' top catching prospect lined a home run to left center field with a man on off Ethan Routzahn.
Zach Maxwell allowed an unearned run in which Duno had a throwing error and had trouble blocking pitches in the dirt. There were four or five pitches that perhaps Duno should have blocked.
Maxwell had his back when they came off the field. Francona reassured him too. Maxwell was charged with two wild pitches and Duno made a throwing error when he couldn't block a third strike pitch.
"I wanted him to know that he was ok. He had a tough time back there. And Duno taking that swing when he hit that home run and (Mason) Neville take that swing for me it was worth coming over here. I will tell you another thing that made my day. (Zach) Maxwell is trying to make the team. Maxwell grabbed them as they were coming off the field and put his arm around him. That was worth coming over here today. That tells me that we're moving in the right direction. I was so proud of him."
Neville took a good swing to drive the ball off the right field fence to score the final run in a 14-3 loss.
The Padres scored nine runs in the ninth.
Minor league pitchers Kevin Abel and Jared Lyons walked five batters in the inning. Abel had a wild pitch and Lyons had two in the ninth inning. Perhaps some of them should have been blocked.
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