Hunter Greene started the game by allowing a single to the first batter, and he retired his final 20 batters in order as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-0 in a rain-shortened game.
Reds manager David Bell said Greene displayed the best performance he had ever since. The 22-year-old pitcher managed to locate his pitch well and keep the D-backs’ bats at bay.
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“That may be the best I’ve seen him pitch,” Bell said. “It was just a great mix of pitches. It makes for an uncomfortable at-bat when he locates his pitches. He got a lot of fly balls. He just set up his pitches really well.”
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The game was delayed by about 13 minutes due to rain. After a couple of storms visited the pitch, the game was stopped in the seventh inning with two outs. It was then called after another 46 minutes.
Greene, who was the second-highest pick in the 2017 draft, gave up a single to Daulton Varsho on the game’s first pitch. He was then caught stealing to end the inning.
Greene’s accuracy shuts down Arizona
The right-handed Greene did not allow a baserunner in the first seven innings. In his previous start on May 15, he pitched 7 1/3 innings and was removed after throwing 103 pitches. Greene only needed 87 pitches to get through the seven innings on Monday.
Greene attributed his success to his simple approach on the mound. He said that he could locate his pitch well and keep the D-backs’ bats at bay by not trying to do too much with it.
“I kept it real simple,” Greene said. “Some of my past starts, I tried to do a little too much on a pitch. Tonight I just said, ‘Here it is.’ The pitches seemed to be where they needed to be. I throw too hard for them to have a comfortable at-bat.”
Outstanding shout-out game
Greene finished with a one-hit complete game and eight strikeouts. It was the first one-hit performance by a Reds pitcher since Luis Castillo in the game against the St. Louis Cardinals in September 2020.
Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said that his team struggled to handle the rookie due to his velocity. He made good adjustments and kept the D-backs’ bats at bay by locating his breaking balls well, Lovullo claimed.
“He was at the top of the zone and we got into a little bit of a wrestling match up there,” Lovullo said. “You have to cheat to catch that velocity. He made good adjustments and was burying some breaking balls down in the zone. You have to tip your cap.”
It was the first time in almost two years that a Cincinnati pitcher threw a complete-game shutout. The last time it was done was by Trevor Bauer against the Kansas City Indians on August 19, 2020.
The rain continued to pour in the seventh inning, which caused the ground crew to struggle to pull the covered portion of the infield’s baselines and the third-base side of the infield.
The Reds scored three runs in the seventh inning against Taylor Widener to blast away with a solid victory. One of the team’s runs was a two-run double by Albert Almora Jr.
