The Reds' staff is as close as it has been in a while.
The Cincinnati Reds entered Tuesday's series opener against the Colorado Rockies sitting at 18-10 and in first place in the NL Central, and they keep winning because of their arms.
Chase Burns turned in another strong outing on the mound, going six innings while allowing just two earned runs on seven hits with nine strikeouts and one walk in the 7-2 victory.
After the game, Burns talked about something that numbers alone do not always show.
He pointed to the bond between the Reds' starting pitchers as a reason things have been working so well this early in the season.
Burns Credits the Group
"This pitching staff's gotten really close with Brady (Singer) becoming our elder," Burns said. "(Andrew) Abbott, Rhett (Lowder), we're a really close starting rotation, and we're just going out there and competing."
That closeness is showing up where it counts.
Burns now carries a 2.65 ERA with 39 strikeouts across 34 innings through his first six starts of 2026, and the 23-year-old looks more and more like the front-of-the-rotation arm the Reds envisioned when they drafted him second overall in 2024.
Lowder has been just as good since coming back from injuries, posting a 3.18 ERA with a 3-1 record through six starts of his own after missing essentially all of 2025.
Doing It Without Their Ace
The wild part about all of this is that the Reds have been doing it without Hunter Greene, their ace, who is not expected back until July after elbow surgery.
Nick Lodolo has also been out since before Opening Day with a finger blister, though he recently began a rehab assignment.
The Reds had every reason to struggle on the mound without those two, and yet the staff has held its own and then some through 29 games.
Not everything has gone perfectly.
Singer, the veteran Burns referred to as the group's "elder," owns a 5.32 ERA through his starts so far, and Abbott carries a 6.59 mark.
Both have track records that suggest these numbers will come back down, but in the meantime it has been Burns and Lowder carrying the load and keeping Cincinnati on pace for what could be a special season.
Why The Group Gets Overlooked
The Reds' rotation does not get the same hype as staffs in Los Angeles or Atlanta, but the numbers tell a different story.
Cincinnati's 3.71 team ERA ranks among the better marks in the National League, and Burns' emergence as a legitimate Cy Young candidate only adds to what this group can become once Greene and Lodolo return.
If the rotation keeps competing the way Burns described, the Reds are going to be a tough out all summer.