PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Chase Burns' backside absorbed the brunt of a 108.8 mph — ouch! — scorching liner off the bat of Bryce Harper that nearly caught the Cincinnati Reds' ace in a more precarious position.
Burns kept his poise, recovered the ball just off the mound, and flipped it to first to retire Harper and end the sixth inning.
Burns felt the, well, burn, and hightailed it to the clubhouse for treatment on a smash hit near the upper groin area that will leave nothing more than a bruise.
“I'll tell you what," Reds manager Terry Francona said, “that was scary. The way he ran off the mound, I thought he was OK. Then he got in the dugout, and it looked like he was dead. I asked him, please tell me you have a cup on. He said, no. I was like, Chase, I don't even watch a game on TV without wearing a cup.”
Burns did at least protect the lead against the streaking Phillies
The 23-year-old Burns, the second overall pick in the 2024 amateur draft, was terrific again in the latest start in his first full major league season.
Burns used a filthy slider to set up the 99 mph heaters upstairs and struck out nine over six innings. He lowered his ERA to 1.83 in the Reds 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night.
Oh, and one assist on Harper's comebacker.
“It hurt, for sure,” Burns said. “Just trying to get the out and come in as fast as possible. It'll be good.”
Each time Burns walked to the mound, it was impossible to miss that oversized All-Star game logo that looms large in the Ashburn Alley concourse.
With the way he’s pitching this season, Burns’ next appearance in Philadelphia could come in the Midsummer Classic.
“It might be in the back of my mind somewhere,” Burns said.
Burns (6-1) allowed only Trea Turner’s solo shot in the third as he helped the Reds end a three-game losing streak and move back above .500 (25-24).
Burns allowed three hits, walked none and drew 18 swings and misses. The right-hander has allowed two or fewer runs in nine of 10 starts this season and one or fewer runs in seven of 10 starts.
He was at his best against the Phillies in the fourth and fifth innings. He got the first batters in the fourth on strikeouts and then struck out the side — Bryson Stott on a slider, Edmundo Sosa on a fastball and Justin Crawford on a nasty slider.
“Feels like if you miss that mistake, then the at-bat gets a lot tougher,” Turner said. “Great arm and seems to be a good competitor.”
His 121 strikeouts — on the strength of that slider — in his first 18 career starts rank third in Reds history (since 1900) behind Gary Nolan (134) and Nick Lodolo (126).
“It's a pretty devasting pitch,” Francona said.
With a 4-1 lead, there was no sense in putting Burns back on the mound for the seventh.
“I mean, my goodness, the ball almost killed him,” Francona said.
Burns has turned into a bit of a stopper for the Reds. He is 3-0 with a 0.72 ERA and has three of the Reds' five wins in May.
“There's been some days where we we've kind been up against it and he's given us what we needed,” Francona said.
Burns went 0-3 with a 4.57 ERA in eight starts over 13 appearances for the Reds last season.
“I'm just taking everything I learned from last year and putting it into this year,” Burns said. “Learning about routines and how to stay healthy during the week. Midweek bullpens and stuff like. Just executing pitches, really.”
Burns is the first Reds starter to throw at least six innings while allowing two runs or fewer in five straight games since Hunter Greene in 2024. The last Reds starter to do so before Burns age 23 or younger was Jay Tibbs in 1984.
“I think he's special now,” Francona said. “What he grows into will be what he grows into.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Chase Burns delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Chase Burns delivers during the second inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
DALLAS (AP) — Jason Kidd is out as coach of the Dallas Mavericks after five seasons, and two weeks after the club hired former Toronto Raptors executive Masai Ujiri as team president and governor.
The team said Tuesday it was parting ways with Kidd, describing the move as a mutual decision. The Hall of Fame point guard led the franchise to its only championship as a player in 2011.
When asked about the future of Kidd at his introduction on May 5, Ujiri was noncommittal, saying he would talk to Kidd while evaluating all aspects of the team.
“As we evaluate the future of our basketball program, we believe this is the right moment for a new direction for our team,” Ujiri said in a statement. “We have high expectations for this franchise and a responsibility to build a basketball organization capable of sustained championship contention.”
Kidd, who didn't respond to a request for comment, made two deep playoff runs with Luka Doncic, reaching the NBA Finals in 2024, two years after a loss to Golden State in the Western Conference finals.
The Mavericks traded Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2024-25 season, getting Anthony Davis as the centerpiece in a deal that backfired badly on the franchise. Dallas missed the playoffs that season and again in 2025-26.
The 53-year-old Kidd had said he was looking forward to developing 2025 No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg, who won Rookie of the Year. Instead, that task will fall to someone else.
Kidd finished with a .500 regular-season record (205-205) with the Mavericks, an appropriate illustration of the up-and-down nature of his tenure.
The run to the West finals came in his first season, when Dallas stunned the favored Phoenix Suns in Game 7 on the road in the second round. The Mavericks lost in five games to the Warriors, who won the title.
Then-general manager Nico Harrison traded for Kyrie Irving the next season, but injuries to him and Doncic limited their chances to be an elite scoring pair. Dallas missed the playoffs.
In their only healthy season together in 2023-24, Doncic and Irving led the Mavericks to the Finals for the first time since Kidd helped Dallas win it all.
Nine months later, Harrison shocked the NBA with the trade of Doncic. Because of injuries, Irving and Davis played together for just 2 1/2 quarters.
Harrison was fired early in the 2025-26 season, after a slow start and with Davis injured again. Davis was later traded to Washington, and despite plenty of brilliant play from Flagg, the Mavericks finished 26-56.
Dallas becomes the fourth team with a coaching vacancy, joining Orlando, Chicago and Portland. The Trail Blazers were led by Tiago Splitter in an interim role this season. Since the regular season ended, Milwaukee has hired Taylor Jenkins and New Orleans brought in Jamahl Mosley.
Of the 12 coaches to take teams to the NBA Finals since 2019, seven are no longer with those clubs — including four who won championships: Nick Nurse with Toronto in 2019; Frank Vogel with the Lakers in 2020; Mike Budenholzer with Milwaukee in 2021; and Michael Malone with Denver in 2023.
The other coaches who went to the Finals since 2019 and are no longer with those teams: Monty Williams (Phoenix in 2021), Ime Udoka (Boston in 2022) and Kidd.
Kidd has a 388-395 record in nine-plus seasons as a head coach. He became a coach immediately after retiring as a player, leading Brooklyn to the second round of the playoffs in 2013-14. He bolted for Milwaukee, where he was fired in the middle of his fourth season.
After two seasons as an assistant with the Lakers, including their 2020 title run in the playoff bubble with LeBron James and Davis, Kidd was hired by the Mavericks.
Ujiri told reporters not to read anything into him being noncommittal about Kidd's return, saying the incumbent lasted several years as coach in each of the previous times he was hired to run basketball operations, with Toronto and Denver.
This time, Ujiri is starting fresh.
AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
FILE - Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd is seen in the first half of an NBA basketball game, March 25, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
