With Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo progressing, Reds still deep on pitching

The Cincinnati Reds' pitching depth stands to get deeper, but its series opener against the Colorado Rockies re-emphasized that the starting point in the 2026 was still plenty deep. Twenty-three-year-old Chase Burns might not have even had his best stuff in the April 28 game. He still plowed through six innings, striking out nine.

The third out of the top of the first inning marked 100 career strikeouts for Burns , making him the fastest Reds pitcher to reach the century mark. Burns exited the game with Cincinnati leading, 4-2. Cincinnati went on to win 7-2, improving to 19-10 this season and remaining atop the National League Central division.

Burns' record improved to 3-1. Reds starters are a combined 10-7 this season. Cincinnati's bullpen took down the last three innings in scoreless fashion, improving upon their collective 2.

91 ERA, which was already the second-best bullpen ERA in the majors. With the score still 4-2, Graham Ashcraft worked through traffic to record a scoreless seventh inning and Tony Santillan also worked around baserunners to blank the Rockies in the eighth. Then, with Emilio Pagán warming in the bullpen for a would-be save situation, Cincinnati's offense blew the game open.