Cincinnati Reds Pitcher Joins Elite Company Through First Six Starts of Career

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Chase Burns pitched well enough to win on Monday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the Reds' offense mustered just two runs in the 5-2 loss at Great American Ball Park.

Burns gave up three runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked a batter and struck out 10. He became just the 14th pitcher in Major League Baseball since 1901 to record at least 45 strikeouts through his first six career starts, according to Matt Wilkes on Reds Content Plus.

The other 13 pitchers to accomplish this were Paul Skenes, Freddy Peralta, Masahiro Tanaka, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Stephan Strasburg, Felix Hernandez, Mark Prior, Hideo Nomo, Kerry Wood, Al Leiter, Jose DeLeon, Gary Nolan, and Herb Score.

Burns was the Reds' first-round draft pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.

The right-hander has a 6.26 ERA in six games this season with Cincinnati to go along with 45 strikeouts. Despite the high ERA, Burns has pitched better than that number shows. He gave up five runs and recorded just one out against the Red Sox when he was thought to be tipping his pitches.

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Chase Burns is the 14th MLB pitcher with at least 45 strikeouts through 6 career starts since 1901, joining:

Paul Skenes
Freddy Peralta
Masahiro Tanaka
Hyun-Jin Ryu
Stephen Strasburg
Felix Hernandez
Mark Prior
Kerry Wood
Hideo Nomo
Al Leiter
Jose DeLeon
Gary Nolan
Herb Score
— Matt Wilkes (@_MattWilkes) July 29, 2025