CINCINNATI — With a 9-0 lead in the fifth inning Monday, it was hardly an October-level pressure situation for Cincinnati Reds starter Chase Burns, but whenever Juan Soto is at the plate with the bases loaded, it’s cause for concern.Burns struck out Soto in the first inning and walked him in the third before facing the New York Mets’ $765 million man with three on and one out in the fifth. Burns’ first two pitches to Soto were out of the zone, giving Soto, who entered the at-bat with a .326 career batting average with the bases loaded, a huge advantage. With the comfortable lead and 96 pitches already thrown on the night, a walk wouldn’t have been the worst outcome, even in what figured to be Burns’ last inning of work.“It’s a huge moment for sure,” said Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson. “And at the end of the day, he’s going to trust his stuff every day, and he’s going to go out and just try to bully guys. And I love it because it’s like: OK, his best stuff versus their best stuff. And I’ll take his stuff all day.”Even against Soto, the odds — and the at-bat — went to Burns. Soto fouled off a 2-0 fastball on the outside corner, then watched a slider in the same spot to bring the count even at 2-2. Following a Soto timeout, Burns’ 98th pitch of the night, a 98 mph fastball elevated just out of the zone, was popped up by Soto to first.Mets first baseman Jared Young then flew out to center, leaving the bases loaded for the second inning in a row and ending Burns’ night. The Reds went on to beat the Mets 12-0. Burns improved to 8-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.01 on the season.While Milwaukee Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski is rightfully getting much of the NL Cy Young talk, with some left over for the Philadelphia Phillies’ Cristopher Sánchez and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ duo of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, it’d be wise for people to start paying attention to Burns.He has allowed two or fewer runs in each of his last 11 starts and has allowed more than two runs in only one start this season, April 10 against the Los Angeles Angels. That one start is responsible for his only loss, and without it, his ERA would be 1.55.“He’s just an elite talent,” said Reds outfielder JJ Bleday. “He’s a dog on the mound. And it’s like it’s fun getting behind a guy like that who’s going to go out there, give everything he has and knows he’s the best out there.”As good as Burns is right now, he’s not a complete product. Two years ago at this time, he was watching his former college team, the University of Tennessee, go on a run to win the College World Series while he prepared for the draft following a transfer to Wake Forest.At Wake Forest, Burns turned himself into an elite starter, and the Reds surprised many people by taking him No. 2 in the draft instead of Georgia’s Charlie Condon, the consensus college player of the year. Condon went third to the Colorado Rockies.Burns didn’t pitch again in 2024 after being drafted. He then needed just 13 pro starts before making his big-league debut, memorably striking out the first five batters he faced, including three former MVPs in Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt.The rookie didn’t last an inning in his next start and had his ups and downs in his first season in pro ball, finishing the season 0-3 with a 4.57 ERA in 13 big-league appearances (eight starts). That gave him an idea of how to become a more complete big-league pitcher.Already blessed with a triple-digit fastball and a devastating slider, he’s added a changeup. It’s a work in progress but should give him another weapon, especially against left-handers.Stephenson said Burns’ rapid development isn’t unlike what he saw from Hunter Greene, who didn’t pitch in college but earned his first All-Star nod in 2024 at 24.While Greene has added a split-finger as a third pitch and Burns is working on his changeup, it’s the ability to throw the fastball at the bottom of the zone that separates Burns, Stephenson said.“Guys are just taking it because guys are just trying not to hit the slider,” Stephenson said. “When he’s able to do that, that was what made Hunter so good, being able to take that step and be able to start locating that at the bottom of the zone, too. And when he’s able to do that, man, it’s going to be video game stuff.”The changeup has helped Burns, especially against left-handed hitters. But it’s location that makes the difference, Stephenson said.“When he’s able to throw his fastball in all four quadrants, like that’s four different pitches,” Stephenson said. “It’s just impossible to hit all four.”The one thing Burns must do to get into the thick of the Cy Young race is to go deeper into games. He’s completed seven innings just once this season. On Monday, he walked three batters to go along with seven strikeouts, throwing 67 pitches in the fourth and fifth innings alone.But when Burns did load the bases twice, he escaped both times. In the fifth, he got Soto and Young. In the fourth, he got a popup from Marcus Semien for the second out before Brett Baty chased a slider in the dirt.“That’s him right now — he does whatever he wants,” said Reds third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who hit a pair of home runs and drove in six runs, all in the first two innings. “He has confidence with his breaking ball. He can use it in any count, and he can throw that fastball in any spot of the home plate — inside, outside, up — and with that stuff, he does whatever he wants to do.”Burns’ “struggles” on Monday show that even as good as he is right now, there are still things to improve.“I think that gets very exciting for us because we believe that and he’s done really well already, but I think there are better days ahead,” Reds manager Francona said. “That’s how good he can be.”