Elly De La Cruz watched the Cincinnati Reds finish off a three-game sweep Sunday in Arlington, beating the Texas Rangers 2-1 behind another sharp start from Chase Burns. The win lifted Cincinnati to 3-1 on the season.
Burns carried a shutout into the seventh inning before the Rangers finally broke through, but the Reds still held on. He finished with one earned run, five hits, one walk and nine strikeouts in 6.0 innings on 87 pitches, a line that showed why he is continuing his ascent to the top of Cincinnati’s rotation.
The margin was even thinner because some of Cincinnati’s most trusted relievers were unavailable after helping secure the first two wins of the series. Graham Ashcraft, Tony Santillan and Emilio Pagan were not available, yet the Reds still protected the lead. Pierce Johnson and Sam Moll cleaned up the inherited runner Burns left in the seventh, Connor Phillips worked the bottom of the eighth against the heart of the Rangers order, and Brock Burke finished it for the save.
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That sequence mattered because it turned a good start into a complete road sweep without the bullpen safety net Cincinnati has leaned on before. Burns gave the Reds enough length to survive the late wobble, and the club answered with enough pitching depth to leave Texas with three straight wins and an early 3-1 start.