Hunter Greene and Reds Allow No Hits in Loss

The Cincinnati Reds completed a baseball rarity Sunday by dropping regardless of conceding no hits.

Hunter Greene, a rookie right-hander, had struck out 9 batters by means of seven innings with out permitting successful. His counterpart, the Pirates’ veteran left-hander José Quintana, almost matched him, permitting solely three hits and one stroll in seven innings earlier than turning the sport over to the Pittsburgh bullpen.

Although Greene’s pitch depend had surpassed 100, Reds Supervisor David Bell allowed him to start the underside of the eighth inning in pursuit of a no-hitter in Pittsburgh. Greene induced a groundout, however then issued walks to Rodolfo Castro and Michael Perez. After seven and one-third innings, 5 walks and 118 pitches, Greene was lastly pulled.

The proper-hander Artwork Warren walked one other batter to load the bases, and Ke’Bryan Hayes grounded right into a fielders’ option to drive within the sport’s solely run and hand Greene a hard-luck loss. It was solely the sixth time in baseball’s trendy period {that a} crew misplaced with out yielding successful, and the primary time it had occurred since 2008.

“It will have been nice to have a special outcome, however it’s what it’s,” Greene instructed reporters after the sport.

He additionally mentioned he did get drained as the sport dragged on.

“However then once more, there’s the psychological a part of, you realize: ‘I’m high quality. I’m not drained,’” he mentioned.

Sadly for Greene, Warren and the Reds, Sunday’s feat is not going to be recorded as a no-hitter. In 1991, Main League Baseball modified the definition of a no-hitter, requiring {that a} crew end at the least 9 innings in an entire sport, thus wiping out every of the no-hit losses, in addition to a number of that have been shortened by rain. By the identical rule, a Madison Bumgarner begin in 2021, wherein he allowed no hits in a complete-game win, was not recorded as a no-hitter as a result of it got here in a seven-inning sport as a part of M.L.B.’s doubleheader guidelines that season.

Sunday’s defeat was the most recent for Cincinnati (9-26), which is greater than 10 video games out of first place within the Nationwide League Central. The Reds’ 3-19 start with a minus-65 run differential was worse than each the 2003 Tigers, who completed with 119 losses, and the 1962 Mets, who misplaced 120, although they’ve been extra aggressive of late with six wins of their previous 10 video games.

Nonetheless, the outing needed to be encouraging for the Reds and Greene, who had a 7.62 E.R.A. and allowed 11 house runs in 26 innings getting into Sunday’s sport. However it is going to certainly include some criticism as the full of 118 pitches is essentially the most a pitcher has been allowed to throw this season, which stands in sharp distinction to how different groups have dealt with pitchers. The Dodgers, notably, pulled Clayton Kershaw after seven excellent innings as a result of the veteran left-hander had thrown 80 pitches on a chilly afternoon in Minnesota and so they have designs on a deep postseason run.

Bell mentioned there was an opportunity he would have allowed Greene to return out for the ninth if he had not gotten into hassle.

“Taking a look at it now, I feel it must have gone very easy for him to return on the market for the ninth,” Bell mentioned. “However I feel there was an opportunity he may have completed it.”

The Reds chosen Greene with the second total decide within the 2017 draft, one spot behind Royce Lewis, the shortstop who made his debut for the Twins this month. With a fastball that may contact triple digits and powerful hitting expertise at Notre Dame Excessive Faculty in Sherman Oaks, Calif., Greene graced the duvet of a difficulty of Sports activities Illustrated, billed as “the star baseball wants.” He had some evaluators considering he may very well be a two-way participant as knowledgeable.

Greene hit some within the low ranges of the minors however eventually gave it up, eschewing the paths taken by Shohei Ohtani and Michael Lorenzen. After having Tommy John surgical procedure in 2019 and the cancellation of the minor league season in 2020 due to the pandemic, Greene had a 3.30 E.R.A. throughout Class AA and AAA final yr. And he ranks as one of many high 25 prospects, in accordance with MLB.com.

After a record-setting yr of no-hitters in 2021, there have been two official ones this season, a mixed effort by the Mets’ employees and a two-strikeout outing by the Angels rookie left-hander Reid Detmers in a blowout of the Tampa Bay Rays.