Burns is gushing about his battery mate after another dominant start.
Chase Burns has been the reason Cincinnati's season hasn't gone sideways, and Thursday afternoon he was at it again.
The 23-year-old right-hander gave the Reds six scoreless innings against the Washington Nationals at Great American Ball Park, scattering two hits, striking out seven and walking two.
His earned run average dropped to 1.87.
Cincinnati won 15-1, and Burns picked up his fifth victory of the year against a single loss.
That is four straight quality starts now, and with Hunter Greene still rehabbing his elbow, Burns has basically been holding the rotation together by himself.
The win pushed the Reds to 22-21, fifth in the National League Central and still hanging around in the wild card mix.
After eight straight losses earlier this month and two more ugly nights against Washington to open the series, Cincinnati needed something like Thursday afternoon, and Burns gave it to them.
When reporters wanted to know what was working, he steered the credit toward his catcher.
Veteran backstop Jose Trevino has been catching the bulk of his starts, and Burns wanted to make sure that did not go unnoticed.
Burns Praises Trevino's Impact
"Me and him have gotten really close over this past year, and that guy believes in me," Burns said. "So just having a lot of confidence in me, and he trusts me, and I trust him. So big shout out to Trevino."
Burns has now given up two runs or fewer in six straight starts and in eight of his nine outings this season, with just one earned run over his last three.
The former No. 2 overall pick out of Wake Forest runs his fastball near triple digits and pairs it with a slider that is one of the nastier pitches in the sport.
A young arm that trusts his catcher gets to think less and let the stuff play, and Burns has clearly been doing exactly that every fifth day on the mound.
A Front-Line Duo
Hunter Greene is set to throw his first bullpen on May 26 and rejoin the team a few days after that, with a July return to the rotation targeted.
When he gets back, Cincinnati lines up two of the most electric arms in the sport on back-to-back nights.
Greene was an All-Star in 2024 and gave the Reds a 2.76 ERA over 19 starts last year before getting shut down, while Burns currently sits atop the National League WAR leaderboard for pitchers.
Stack those two against any rotation in the league and most teams are in trouble.
No pitching tandem in baseball is going to be more fun once the summer hits.