Astros crush Reds 10-0 behind Mike Burrows, four homers

Mike Burrows gave Houston the kind of start that can steady a club, and the Astros backed it with a power surge that made the final inning feel like punctuation. Burrows threw seven shutout innings on a season-high 98 pitches, allowed three hits and one walk, and struck out six as Houston rolled past the Cincinnati Reds 10-0 on Friday night.

The win was about more than one dominant outing. Zach Dezenzo, Yordan Alvarez, Zach Cole and Christian Vázquez all homered, giving Houston four long balls in a game that showed the lineup working with unusual balance. Dezenzo opened the scoring with his first home run of the season, and Alvarez added a sixth-inning shot that came off the bat at 115.9 mph, a reminder of the force Houston can unleash when its middle order is locked in. Brice Matthews also added his first career triple as the Astros kept pressure on Cincinnati from start to finish.

Burrows was the central figure on the mound, though. After a stretch of difficult outings earlier this season, he said, “I needed one of those,” and the performance matched the sentiment. It was his best start of the year, and Houston needed it to hold down a Reds lineup that has spent the past week losing games in bunches. Burrows and two relievers limited Cincinnati to five hits, and the Astros recorded their third shutout of the season.

For Cincinnati, the loss fit into a deeper slide that now has sharper edges. The Reds have dropped eight straight and were outscored 60-23 during the streak, with four of those defeats coming in games in which they allowed at least eight runs. Manager Terry Francona said his club would keep fighting, and that the coaches had to support the players through the skid, but the numbers now point to more than a bad week. They point to questions about depth, consistency and whether the roster can absorb the kind of damage that keeps piling up.

Nick Lodolo’s return only added to the frustration. Back from a blister on his left index finger that kept him out for the first six weeks of the season, he allowed four runs on five hits and one walk in 5 1/3 innings, striking out two. The ninth inning then turned the scoreline into a rout when Tony Santillan allowed four runs, including back-to-back homers by Cole and Vázquez on consecutive pitches. Houston’s win was its first in Cincinnati since 2012, after being swept in interleague series at Great American Ball Park in 2019 and 2024, another sign that the Astros are moving with growing confidence while the Reds search for a way to stop the skid.