The Cincinnati Reds suffered a 5-0 shutout loss in their Monday opener against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park.
The Cincinnati Reds struggled in all facets on Monday against the San Francisco Giants, suffering a 5-0 shutout loss to open the series when 23-year-old ace Chase Burns had a rare dismal outing on the mound, surrendering nine hits and five earned runs through only 3.2 innings pitched.
As a result, Burns now holds a 2.77 ERA and 1.15 WHIP after suffering just his third loss to go 14-3 in 25 games started for Cincinnati this season.
Following the game, manager Terry Francona acknowledged the lack of depth in Burns' pitches while also crediting the Giants' offense for their ability to pick up on that and capitalize.
"His fastball was yanking kind of into their swing, they were very aggressive," Francona said in a postgame interview with MLB.com. "He wasn't able to get the normal breaking ball depth where they had to kind of respect it or swing over it. You don't see that very often against him."
Still, the Reds' lineup didn't do Burns any favors, recording five hits in comparison to San Francisco's 10.
The Giants struck early in the first as Jung Hoo Lee scored Drew Gilbert with an RBI single and tacked on another run when Turner Hill drove in Rafael Devers with a one-run double to put San Francisco ahead 2-0.
Tyler Stephenson attempted to ignite a rally in the second with a single, but it was not enough when Giants left-hander Carson Whisenhunt fanned a pair of batters in Eugenio Suárez and Matt McLain while also forcing a lineout by JJ Bleday to end the inning.
With that, Devers sealed Cincinnati's fate that same inning, pouncing on a 97-mph four-seam fastball near the heart of the plate for a three-run homer to right center.
Even when Whisenhunt was removed from the game during the third, Cincinnati continued to flounder when reliever Jason Foley struck out three-consecutive Reds in Dane Myers, Stephenson and Suárez.
Stephenson and Suárez tried to bring life to the Reds' offense in the ninth. Nonetheless, McLain and Bleday spoiled the effort with the latter popping out to end the matchup.
The Reds' struggles at the plate have been a core trend this season with the team ranking 30th in MLB for batting average (.226) and second in strikeouts (1,258).
If Cincinnati wants to make it back to the postseason for the first time since 2025, they must figure ways to string hits or get runners on whenever Elly De La Cruz and Rookie of the Year candidate Sal Stewart are unable to produce.
"We didn't take advantage of them losing their starter, they kind of matched up the whole game, but we were never able to break through anybody," Francona said. "We started following guys around instead of getting stubborn."
The Reds will be back in action tonight at 9:45 p.m. EDT as right-hander Brady Singer toes the rubber against Adrian Houser who has compiled a 4.08 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 108 innings of action.
