This series has been a demolition derby. The Pirates dropped the first two before finally breaking through Saturday, snapping a four-game skid behind a rain-soaked, walk-aided 4-1 win over Andrew Abbott and the Reds bullpen. That victory doesn't erase a brutal stretch for Pittsburgh, who've lost 4 of their last 5 and just placed Ryan O'Hearn on the 10-day IL with a quad strain. Cincinnati, despite going 3-2 over the same stretch, has its own issues piling up on the injury front.
The Reds' rotation is a M*A*S*H unit right now. Nick Lodolo is still working back from a finger issue, throwing simulated innings instead of live ones. Brandon Williamson is doing rehab starts in Double-A. Graham Ashcraft is on a long throwing program. That's three potential rotation pieces unavailable, which is exactly why Burns carrying a 12-1 record and a 2.35 ERA matters so much to a Reds team at 52-58 and fading. Pittsburgh isn't dealing with pitching attrition at the same scale, but losing O'Hearn's bat right as the offense searches for consistency is its own quiet problem.
Neither team is playing for much beyond pride at this point. The Pirates sit at 56-56, treading water, while the Reds at 52-58 look like a club whose season is defined more by Burns' individual brilliance than any real playoff push. That imbalance, one true difference-maker on a roster otherwise scuffling, is the whole story of this game and maybe this Reds season.
It didn't take long for that gap to show up on the scoreboard.
Cincinnati jumped on Pittsburgh early and never let up, scoring in four of the first five innings and cruising to a 10-2 win to salvage the series finale. The Pirates managed just 4 hits all afternoon and only found the board twice, once in the 4th and once in the 8th, long after the game had been decided. A split series felt like the fair outcome all weekend, and that's exactly what both clubs got.