Game Recap: Reds blank the Cubs |
Dustin Riese
· · 7 hours ago
CINCINNATI - Sometimes all you need is one run, and that is all the Cincinnati Reds (77-76) would need on Thursday as they kicked off a massive four-game set at the Great American Ballpark against the Chicago Cubs (88-65). Backed by a Will Benson RBI double in the fourth, it was the Hunter Greene show from there as the right-hander went the distance in what was a 1-0 Reds win.
Greene has missed a ton of time this season as health has been his No.1 issue since his MLB debut, but when he is on, he is the definition of an ace. Not only was Greene on in this one, but you could make a case that this was the best start of his career as he went the distance to earn the complete game, walking one and striking out nine. He also allowed just one Seiya Suzuki double to come close to no-hitting the Cubs as he improved to 7-4 with a 2.74 ERA. Speaking of a starting pitcher who had one of his best games, Colin Rea was downright impressive as well, which makes this loss all the more painful. Across seven innings, Rea held the Reds to one run on four hits and struck out a career high 11 batters. This is one of those games where someone had to win and someone had to lose, and unfortunately, Rea was the one who had to lose, as he fell to 10-7 for the season with an ERA of 4.10. Typically, one run is never enough in this ballpark, but Thursday was an odd night as the ball didn't seem to be carrying as much as it usually does. That is a big reason why the Cubs were held without a hit through five innings, as this type of performance was expected when considering the party they had yesterday. Not only were hits hard to come by for the Cubs, but also for the Reds, as all four of their hits came in a span of two innings. That included a pair of first-inning singles from Gavin Lux and Austin Hays as the Reds had something cooking early, but couldn't get the job done. It wasn't until the fourth when the Reds were finally able to break through as Hays picked up his second hit in as many at-bats, leading things off with a double. Two batters later, and it was Benson getting in on the fun as his RBI double put the Reds on top 1-0 and proved to be the only run they would need to win this game, as that was the final hit of the game for the Reds, who managed to put just one more guy on base the rest of the way. Had it not been for a fifth-inning error, Greene would've been in line for a perfect game, but after walking Michael Busch in the sixth to go with that error, the best he could do was to throw a no-hitter. As the game progressed, that was starting to look more like a reality as the Cubs had two outs in the seventh and still no hits. That was until Seiya Suzuki laced a two-out Double down the left field line as the Cubs had the tying runner at second. Suzuki wound up getting stranded at second to end the inning as he was the lone baserunner to reach scoring position of the Cubs in the Cubs' 1-0 loss. Even with the loss, the Cubs saw their magic number to clinch homefield shrink from five to four as the Mets lost another game to the Padres. The Cubs will look to even things up on Friday as they send Shota Imanaga against Nick Lodollo. First pitch is set for 5:40 CDT.
