The future may be now for Cincinnati Reds right-hander Chase Burns.

The 23-year-old took a no-hitter into the fifth inning in his first start of the season before giving up one hit, walking three and striking out seven in a 2-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday. It was his first major league win after going 0-3 in 13 appearances last season.

Burns (1-0, 0.00 ERA) threw 78 pitches and will take the mound again Sunday when the Reds try to sweep the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas.

“I have said probably a million times, if he works ahead, and he will get better at it, it gets very exciting,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “Our plan this spring was to get him in position to make these starts. We want him to make every start and pitch a lot. His future is bright, but I think the present will be OK, too.”

Burns, the No. 2 overall selection in the 2024 MLB Draft, has never faced the Rangers.

The Reds are struggling at the plate, hitting only .203 as a team, but Sal Stewart is off a great start with a .407 average.

He had an RBI single in the Reds’ two-run first inning Saturday. It turned out to be the hit of the game as Cincinnati was shut out from then on.

Stewart’s fast start is needed as stars Elly De La Cruz (.219) and Eugenio Suarez (.226) are struggling. Both have struck out 13 times.

Suarez does lead the team with six RBIs and Cruz leads the team with three home runs but has driven in only four runs.

The Rangers are hitting .243 as a team, but Texas has some key starters who are languishing.

No. 2 hitter Wyatt Langford is hitting .167 with 10 strikeouts, adding three on Saturday.

Josh Jung is hitting .143 and Joc Pederson is 0-for-14 after an 0-for-4 Saturday.

After Jake Burger walked to lead off the ninth inning, Pederson hit into a double play.

“We just couldn’t get anything together after a couple of hits or a walk or whatever,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “We just couldn’t string anything together.”

Schumaker isn’t too worried about his young sluggers, especially Langford.

“It is a 162-game schedule,” he said. “I told him those balls will start falling. It is frustrating to hit the ball hard and not get anything for it, but he will be all right.”

Evan Carter is hitting .273 and Schumaker is looking to play the left-handed hitter more against left-handed pitching.

“I gotta give him a chance against lefties and see how it goes,” Schumaker said. “He will get his chances and he will get better.”

The Rangers will send right-hander Jack Leiter to the mound Sunday.

The 25-year-old is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA after beating the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 in his first start. He allowed two earned runs in five innings and struck out eight.

Schumaker was impressed by what he saw in that outing from Leiter, who was the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2021.

“The changeup was elite,” Schumaker said after the game. “Righty, lefty didn’t really matter. It just seemed like a carryover from his last start last year. And I think this is who he’s going to be. You are going to see more of this version of Jack throughout the year.”

Leiter is 1-0 against the Reds with a 0.00 ERA after beating Cincinnati in his only career start against them last April. He allowed one hit over five innings.

–Field Level Media

The Philadelphia Phillies started their first road trip of the season with a pair of impressive wins over the Colorado Rockies. They will go for the sweep when the teams wrap up the three-game series in Denver on Sunday.

Philadelphia, which squeaked out a 2-1 win Saturday night, will send Taijuan Walker (0-1, 11.57 ERA) against Colorado’s Tomoyuki Sugano (0-0, 1.93 ERA) in a matchup of right-handers.

Walker struggled in his first start of the season for the Phillies, allowing seven on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings against Washington on Monday, but he can turn things around against the Rockies. In 10 career starts against Colorado he is 5-1 with a 2.36 ERA.

He went 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two outings against the Rockies in 2025.

Walker can build on the first two starts of the weekend by the Phillies. Aaron Nola and Jesus Luzardo combined to strike out 20 batters and give up just one run each in their outings. Nola benefited from strong run support in a 10-1 win Friday but Philadelphia scored just a pair Saturday night.

The Phillies have struggled to score runs, outside of the 10 runs on Friday, but the players aren’t worried about the offense.

“That’s kind of how seasons go sometimes,” Bryce Harper said. “Some guys have good first months and then have a terrible rest of the season. Or they have a really bad first month and then they win an MVP. That’s why you play the whole season.

“You don’t put too much stock in the first couple games. You just play your game, understand it’s a long season and you’ve just got to find value in playing a full season.”

Philadelphia will go against a pitcher it has never faced. Sugano was sharp in his debut with Colorado on Monday when the Rockies routed Toronto, 14-5. He allowed just a run on two hits but an elevated pitch count limited him to 4 2/3 innings.

Colorado brought in Sugano, 36, to help shore up a rotation that struggled in 2025. The Rockies have pitched better this year but their offense, like the Phillies’, has struggled. Colorado has scored five runs over its last four games.

The Rockies fanned 15 times in their home opener on Friday and 13 more Saturday night.

It has been a factor in the Rockies starting 1-4 in one-run games.

“The big thing (Saturday) with the strikeout is we missed too many pitches in the zone, early in the count,” manager Warren Schaeffer said after the 2-1 loss. “You can’t miss pitches early and chase late, it’s a bad combo.”

Even with the strikeout issues, there have been some bright spots. Rookie TJ Rumfield is batting .360 with a home run, Ezequiel Tovar is hitting .294 after going 1-for-4 Saturday night and Troy Johnston, who played 44 games with Miami last season, is batting .333 with one of Colorado’s five home runs through the first eight games.

–Field Level Media

This time last year, Nebraska took home the inaugural College Basketball Crown trophy. The winner of Sunday’s championship game in Las Vegas between Oklahoma and West Virginia will hope to carry similar momentum into next season.

Oklahoma (21-15) endured a nine-game losing streak in the heart of Southeastern Conference play, ultimately dooming its NCAA Tournament chances before finishing as the first team left out of the 68-team field.

The Sooners face former Big 12 rival West Virginia on Sunday in the program’s first championship game since their 1991 NIT final loss to Stanford. For Oklahoma coach Porter Moser, the decision to accept the bid wasn’t a tough one, and so far, it’s paid off.

“I’m not going to lie, it was a very hard Selection Sunday,” Moser said. “The emotions were very raw, because of how much these guys battled through when no one else believed. We felt we should have been in (the tournament), but that’s for a later discussion. We could either talk about that, or we could show them why they made a mistake.”

After beating Colorado 90-86 in overtime on Wednesday in the quarterfinals, Oklahoma got 21 points from Xzayvier Brown in its 82-69 victory over Baylor on Saturday. Nijel Pack’s 16.6 points per game pace the Sooners, while Brown adds 15.5.

West Virginia (20-14) beat Creighton 87-70 in the semifinals on Saturday to earn its first 20-win season since the 2019-20 campaign. One more victory would give the Mountaineers their first postseason tournament title since winning the 2007 NIT.

First-year head coach Ross Hodge’s team flirted with the NCAA Tournament bubble all season. When that dream fell short, there were no doubts about heading to Las Vegas.

“There was no conversation that needed to be had about playing,” Hodge said. “These guys love each other. They love the university. They love the state of West Virginia. It’s their heart and their gratitude that is directly responsible for us to be in the position that we’re going to be in (Sunday).”

Freshman DJ Thomas scored 20 points in the Mountaineers’ win over Creighton — his second most this season. Honor Huff leads West Virginia with 15.9 points per game, followed by Brenen Lorient’s 11.8.

Nebraska followed up its CBC title last season by winning a school-record 28 games this season, including the first two NCAA Tournament victories in program history.

–Field Level Media