Baseball’s All-Star break’s done, so the season resumes tonight, with the Reds in DC to open the second half against the Nationals. Cincinnati goes in just under .500 on the year at 47 & 50, Washington with 44 wins and 53 losses. Frankie Montas starts on the mound for the Reds, while the Nationals open with Patrick Corbin, who only has one win so far this season. The broadcast arrives on your radio at 6:15 tonight, on the Sports Voice, 103.9, WRBI.
The Reds have quickly signed their new Number 1 draft choice. Right-handed pitcher Chase Burns of North Carolina’s Wake Forest University put his name on the dotted line last evening after driving to Cincinnati from his Tennessee home. He picked up a record 9 and a quarter million dollar bonus, more than the 9 million last year’s top overall pick Paul Skenes got from the Pirates. Burns had been the top-rated pitcher in the draft according to MLB Pipeline. In this year’s college season, he went 10 & 1 in 16 starts for the Demon Deacons, with an ERA of only 2.7. He’s the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Pitcher of the Year, and he led all of college baseball with 191 strikeouts in 100 innings. He’ll begin life as a pro baseballer this weekend, reporting to the Reds’ facilities in Goodyear, Arizona.
It’ll be a big auto racing weekend– The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has the 30th Anniversary Brickyard 400 NASCAR race Sunday. The very first car to win it, Jeff Gordon’s rainbow-colored Chevy Lumina, will be on display on the track’s fan midway. And the legendary Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motorsports, that operation marking its 40th anniversary, will be driving the pace car. You can join us for all the Brickyard action, at 1:30 Sunday afternoon on the Place for the Race, 103.9 WRBI.
Local racing news includes our Rob Lafary’s report that Milan High junior Kayla Roell became the first young woman to win a sprint car race at Lawrenceburg Speedway last weekend. We talked to Kayla last winter about her breaking of barriers, when she took 4th place in her weight class in the state wrestling tournament.