After a tough season debut the last time out, Hunter Greene looked as good as he’s ever looked in start number two of his season as he racked up 12 strikeouts in seven shutout innings. Home runs by the Reds offense gave Cincinnati just enough breathing room and the bullpen took care of the final two innings to drop the Chicago Cubs in the series opener of the final homestand before the All-Star break.
Hunter Greene started his day out with back-to-back strikeouts in a perfect 1st inning. The Reds would then pick up two 1-out singles in their half of the inning at the plate but saw two strikeouts end the threat without a run. Greene had three more strikeouts in the 2nd inning. They would then strand another runner in their half of the inning. In the bottom of the 3rd they would strand two more. Cincinnati would strand another runner in the the inning as the game remained scoreless.
After Hunter Greene tossed another shutout inning in the top of the 5th the Reds offense finally came through. Elly De La Cruz led off the bottom of the inning with an absolute laser into the seats in left-center to put Cincinnati up 1-0. With a lead, Greene went out and added two more strikeouts to his line as he threw another shutout frame. In the 7th inning he had to work around a single and a walk, but he was able to and tacked on two more strikeouts to give him 12 on the day as he held onto a 1-run lead.
Elly De La Cruz got things started for the offense in the bottom of the frame, picking up a 1-out triple into the right field corner. He then came in to score on a sacrifice fly. Spencer Steer kept the inning alive with an infield hit. Two pitches later JJ Bleday hit a 417-foot, 2-run home run just beneath the power stacks in center as the Reds extended their lead to 4-0.
Brock Burke entered the game to begin the 8th inning, ending the night for Hunter Greene. He picked up where his teammate left off, tossing a shutout inning and adding in another strikeout for the pitching staff. Emilio Pagan then took over to begin the top of the 9th. He struck out the side to seal the win to open up the series with a dominant performance from the pitching staff.
Key Moment of the Game
The Reds 3-run 7th inning. While Hunter Greene had dominated the game to that point, Cincinnati only had a 1-run lead before that.
Notes Worth Noting
Hunter Greene’s 12 strikeouts made this his 5th career start with at least 12 in a game. Matt Wilkes noted that Greene joined Jose Rijo and Gary Nolan as Reds with five such games and only Johnny Vander Meer (6), Mario Soto (7), and Jim Maloney (19) had more 12-strikeout games as a Red in their career.
The pitching staff as a whole had one walk and 16 strikeouts.
At the plate the Reds have 13 hits. Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart, Spender Steer, Tyler Stephenson, and Edwin Arroyo all had multiple hits in the game.
Both teams went 0-5 with runners in scoring position. Two home runs made the difference for Cincinnati.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds
Saturday July 11th, 7:10pm ET
Javier Assad (6-1, 4.15 ERA) vs Nick Lodolo (3-2, 4.68 ERA)
