Things were going well in Hunter Greene’s return to the mound but Chicago got to the Reds bullpen late in the game and before you knew it a four run lead evaporated in Cincinnati as the Cubs scored 11 runs in the final three innings to blow away the home team in the series opener.
Final
R
H
E
Chicago Cubs (31-20)
13
13
2
Cincinnati Reds (25-27)
6
13
0
W: Flexen (2-0) L: Santillan (0-1)
Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread
Hunter Greene returned to the mound from a short stay on the injured list and fired off a 1-2-3 inning while routinely hitting triple digits. The bottom of the 1st inning saw the Reds offense put together five straight hits to score to take a 3-0 lead.
Two innings later the Cincinnati offense tacked on another run when Austin Hays led off with a triple and then scored on a wild pitch. Chicago would get to Greene in the top of the 4th inning for two runs after Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a 2-run home run. After breezing through the first three frames, Greene threw 37 pitches in the inning as he later walked two batters before a 12-pitch at-bat finally ended the inning.
The long inning in the 4th ended the day for Greene and the Reds went to the bullpen for the 5th. Scott Barlow sent the Cubs back to the dugout in order and in the bottom of the inning Tyler Stephenson just missed a 2-run home run and settled for an RBI double to make it 5-2. TJ Friedl capped the inning off with another run scoring hit that extended the lead for the home team to four runs.
Barlow returned to the mound to begin the 6th and got Seiya Suzuki out before giving way to Taylor Rogers who worked around a double to keep the game at 6-2. The next inning is when the trouble started as Ian Gibaut gave up two hits and three baserunners while recording just one out before the Reds called in Tony Santillan to try and get out of the jam. Instead he gave up a 2-run single on the first pitch he threw. A single followed to load the bases and then the first pitch to Pete Crow-Armstrong landed in the stands for a go-ahead grand slam.
After a walk by Santillan came next, the Reds called on Brent Suter who got out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts. He returned for the top of the 9th and gave up a leadoff double, a 1-out walk, and then a 2-out, 3-run home run that extended the Cubs lead to 11-6. Chicago’s assault of the Reds bullpen continued in the 9th inning when Dansby Swanson hit a 2-run home run off of Luis May to finish the game’s scoring and make it a 13-6 game. Ryan Pressly would give up a 2-out double in the bottom of the 9th to Austin Wynns, but he would be stranded there as Chicago took the first game of the series with a 7-run win.
Key Moment of the Game
Pete Crow-Armstrong’s grand slam that gave the Cubs the lead.
Notes Worth Noting
Spencer Steer extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a 3-5 night.
TJ Friedl and Austin Hays each had 2-hit games.
The Reds hit zero home runs. The Cubs hit four.
Both teams walked plenty of hitters and struck out very few as the game featured nine walks and just 13 strikeouts between the two clubs.
Four of Cincinnati’s relievers were charged with multiple runs allowed in the game.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds
Saturday, May 24th, 4:10pm ET
Colin Reah (3-0, 2.38 ERA) vs Andrew Abbott (3-0, 1.80 ERA)
