The Cincinnati Reds are moving forward with a closer by committee approach, and Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Houston Astros was the first example of how it’s going to look for the Reds until Emilio Pagán (hamstring) returns.
“Unless it’s Pagán,” Terry Francona said. “I don’t think you can just map a game out.”
One day after pitching 1 ⅔ innings of effective long relief in a game the Reds were trailing, Pierce Johnson became the first Reds pitcher to record a save since Pagán’s injury. The way that the game played out, including Chase Burns pitching six innings and not seven innings, dictated the plan in the final few innings. “If Burns goes back out for the seventh, maybe Ashcraft could have finished the game,” Francona said. “Once we determined he wouldn’t, the thought was to use Burke, go to Ashcraft and if he has a quick inning maybe send him out for two (innings). He didn’t, so we went to Plan B.”
Since Burns pitched six innings — he allowed one run in another start that showed why he’s one of the best young starters in the game, and why he may already be the Reds’ best pitcher — the Reds had to cover three more innings to close out the game.
The key to the whole plan was that Francona was targeting the top-third of the Astros’ lineup for Ashcraft. Injuries have decimated the bottom-half of the Astros’ lineup, but the top-half still looks imposing. The top two of Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez (a top-five hitter in baseball) is especially scary.
When Burns’ day was done, Astros No. 6 hitter Zach Cole was due up to start the seventh inning. Cole and No. 8 hitter Braden Shewmake are left-handed, so Francona went with Brock Burke for the seventh inning.
“(Burke) hasn’t gotten enough credit for what he has done,” Johnson said about the Reds’ lefty.
If you take out the game in Pittsburgh last Saturday (a mess for the entire team and a blowout loss), Burke has a 0.54 ERA on the season.
Francona’s comments about Ashcraft from Saturday — the fact that Ashcraft could have pitched the final two innings, and that he wanted Ashcraft facing Altuve and Alvarez — made it look like Ashcraft is at the top of the bullpen depth chart right now.
On Saturday, Ashcraft retired the side in order, striking out Alvarez to end the inning.
Francona’s comments about Ashcraft from Saturday — the fact that Ashcraft could have pitched the final two innings, and that he wanted Ashcraft facing Altuve and Alvarez — made it look like Ashcraft is at the top of the bullpen depth chart right now.
With Tony Santillan scuffling (nine runs allowed over his last five games) and with Pagán out, Ashcraft is stepping up. While he blew a save last Wednesday (that was on a well-executed pitch out of the zone to PCA), Ashcraft has a 1.83 ERA this season.
“His stuff is fantastic,” Johnson said. “It’s elite. He knows that. He has gotten into some huge situations this year and gotten some major outs for us.”
There aren’t many pitchers like Ashcraft in the game right now. He has the hardest cutter in all of baseball. He also has the third-hardest slider in the game.
Ashcraft has turned to recent history for some help, studying some of the best relief pitchers of the 21st century.
“I go back and watch them and see how they attack guys,” Ashcraft said. “They go right after hitters, and that’s the key part of it.
Ashcraft watched a lot of Mariano Rivera, studying the game of the former Yankees’ closer who retired in 2013.
Ashcraft will sit in his hotel room on the road and watch Rivera’s cutters.
“You watch how he goes through and attack guys,” Ashcraft said. “Against lefties, he always stayed up at their hands. He got them to get soft contact. With the righties, being able to get away off the plate to get chase with it.”
He has also researched Kenley Jansen, who’s currently with the Tigers and is wrapping up a Hall of Fame career.
“You see a lot of guys like me get my ball to 16 or 18 (inches) of vert,” Ashcraft said. “That’s a lot of vert on a cutter. Most guys are at typically at six-to-12 or 13 with negative horizontal (break). You watch Kenley do it, and he’s throwing 22-inch vert ball with negative 4 horizontal (break). That’s unhittable. That’s a cut and ride that you don’t see in the big leagues.”
Ashcraft wanted to link up with Jansen when the Tigers were in town a few weeks ago, but he wasn’t able to make it work.
While he didn’t get direct advice from the closer with 482 career saves, Ashcraft has been asking around relievers in the Reds’ bullpen who have closing experience.
“Pounding the zone, that’s it,” Ashcraft said. “Throw strike one and let everything else happen. It all comes down to being in tune with yourself, knowing your mechanics and filling the zone up. If you’re feeling good and you’re mechanics are good, more likely than not you’re going to do that.”
He has a bad walk rate this year, and Ashcraft recognizes that’s an area where he needs to be better. He says the key to command is the consistency of his mechanics, which he’s working on. The Reds need him to take a step in this area.
“A lot of it is having confidence in yourself and just being composed,” Ashcraft said. “I feel like I’m getting there. I just want to fine tune my stuff and keep going.”
While Ashcraft looks like a go-to guy in the Reds’ bullpen right now, Saturday’s game reinforced that the ninth inning is going to be a team effort in the near future with Pagán expected to miss four-to-eight weeks.
“We’ll hold that position down until he gets back,” Johnson said. “It’s a huge loss losing him. Not just for what he brings to the field, but off the field too. He’s an anchor in the bullpen. A lot of guys look up to him. It’s a leadership role that’s really, really hard to fill. We’re going to miss him a lot. He’s not going to be gone long. We’ll get him back soon.”
Santillan should be back in that ninth inning mix when he’s back in a groove.
While Ashcraft has been very good this year, a new trend with him is that he has been much better vs. right-handed hitters than left-handed hitters in 2026. If the Reds are facing a bunch of lefties — as one example, maybe the top of a Pirates’ lineup that starts with a left-handed Oneil Cruz and a left-handed Brandon Lowe with a left-handed Ryan O’Hearn hitting fourth — then Burke could be a strong option for the ninth inning on a day like that.
Johnson’s command and prior closer experience makes him a candidate for saves based on how the innings leading up to the ninth go for the Reds’ bullpen.
Saturday was Johnson’s turn, and he threw a perfect ninth inning.
“It’s a heck of an adrenaline rush, I’ll tell you that,” Johnson said. “That was a big win for the team. We’ve been going through it a bit on the last road trip. We needed one right there. I’m glad I could come through and help us out.”
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