The Reds are still mathematically alive in the NL Wild Card race, though barely, and a trip to face a Giants team with nothing left to play for is exactly the kind of series they need to bank.
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TUE AUG 25 · 6:45 PM PT
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Chase Burns takes the ball for Cincinnati on Monday, and it's fair to call him the best thing the Reds have going right now. He's 14-2 with a 2.51 ERA, the club signed him to a 7-year, $105 million extension in July, and his last time out against the Cardinals he struck out 8 over 5 innings and allowed just 2 earned runs, even if the bullpen let it slip away from a decision. San Francisco hasn't lined up a starter yet, with Logan Webb still working back from the back and shoulder tightness that pulled him from a start against Colorado, so the counterpunch here is genuinely unresolved.
Whoever the Giants throw out there will be working in front of a lineup that's absorbed a wave of injuries up the middle and along the infield, while the Reds are still without Hunter Greene for the rest of the year after a second Tommy John surgery and are nursing Spencer Steer's wrist. Neither rotation is at full strength, which tends to matter more in a series than any one name on a lineup card.
Both clubs have three games to play before this one lands — Cincinnati at Arizona, San Francisco at Boston — so whatever shape either team is in by the time first pitch goes at 6:45 PM PT could look different from today's snapshot. That's especially true for the Giants, who are deep into a road trip that hasn't been kind to them.
Cincinnati Reds
San Francisco Giants
The more interesting subplot at Oracle Park might not involve Burns at all. San Francisco's newest infielder, Marcelo Mayer, came over in a trade from Boston and has been working back from a forearm issue; manager Tony Vitello has floated Monday's game against the Reds as a target for his Giants debut. Nothing's confirmed, but if it happens, it's the first real look at a player who was a top-5 pick not long ago trying to jump-start a lineup that badly needs one.
Cincinnati Reds
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Fully healthy — no injuries to report
San Francisco Giants
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Fully healthy — no injuries to report
None of this changes the bigger picture. The Reds are fighting a math problem that gets harder by the week, and the Giants are a well-below-.500 team playing out a lost season. That gap in stakes is part of what makes Monday's series interesting — Cincinnati needs this kind of matchup to go their way, and San Francisco has little reason to make it easy beyond pride and an audition period for whoever's left on the roster.
