Reds must figure out a new plan for Chase Burns against Cubs

Chase Burns is scheduled to make his 29th start of the season on Friday when the Cincinnati Reds open their final home series of the 2026 season against the Chicago Cubs. It'll mark the third time this month that Burns will take on a lesser workload having gone just three innings in each of his previous two starts.

But an interesting development occurred during the Reds 8-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday. Brandon Williamson came on in relief of Pierce Johnson during the eighth inning. The lefty totaled two innings of work and allowed one run on two hits while tossing 25 pitches.

The Reds' blueprint heading into the month of September had been to piggyback Williamson off Burns. Obviously those plans will have to change on Friday night. Reds manager Terry Francona offered a quick sound byte after Thursday's loss when asked about the plan for Friday.

"We’re going to figure that out," Francona told MLB.com writer Mark Sheldon. "We have some things to work through, obviously.”

How will the Reds navigate their Chase Burrns dilemma vs. the Cubs without Brandon Williamson?

The Reds burned through a lot of relievers during the previous seres against the Dodgers. Outside of Monday's 4-1 loss that saw Nick Lodolo go seven strong, the Reds rotation was mostly unaccounted for.

Rhett Lowder made it through just five innings on Tuesday, Andrew Abbott couldn't get out of the fifth inning during Wednesday's game, and Brady Singer was chased after just 3⅓ innings of work on Thursday afternoon.

Williamson, Johnson, Tony Santillan, and Luis Mey all toed the rubber on Thursday. Williamson and Mey are likely unavailable, but Santillan and Johnson should be good to go. Emilio Pagán, Graham Ashcraft, and Julian Garcia all threw more than 20 pitches on Wednesday, with both Ashcraft and Garcia going on back-to-back days. Brock Burke is arguably the Reds' freshest arm, having thrown just eight pitches since Sunday.

The Reds might be tempted to call up another reliever or two. Julian Aguiar hasn't pitched since September 12, and would be an option. He's combined for seven innings over his last two starts at Triple-A Louisville, and could give Francona some length once Burns is removed from Friday's game.

Regardless of who or how, don't expect Burns to go much beyond three innings of work on Friday night. The Reds have been very matter of fact in how they'll manage the fireballer down the stretch, and that's unlikely to change.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow