During his six innings, he gave up one run, two hits, walked two and struck out 12. And he had to endure a 97 miles an hour line drive off his pitching shoulder and 40 foul balls poked by the Nationals.
None of that had to do with him saying he wanted to be a man of the people. It was the sixth inning and he had 10 strikeouts.
He glanced at the scoreboard and saw the LaRosa’s pizza message: “When a Reds pitcher strikes out 11 during a home game, all fans in attendance receive, free, a small one-ingredient pizza.
So he struck out Nathan Lowe to provide the pizza and then, for good measure, struck out Keibert Ruiz for his 12th. It is the second most strikeouts of his career, two shy of the 14 he struck out in a game two seasons ago.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Offensively, it was a celebrated appearance of catcher Tyler Stephenson, his first game of the season. And what a return it was — a walk, two doubles, two RBI and a run scored as the designated hitter.
And the pressure was on. Before the game, Stephenson found a message in his locker from catchers Jose Trevino and Austin Winns, both of whom have contributed tremendously during Stephenson’ season-long absence.
The message said, “Catchers produce offensively.”
“I probably had more hits tonight than I had during my rehab in Louisville,” said Stephenson. Close. He was 3 for 28 while on rehab assignment.
“It has been a long time coming,” he said. “It felt like forever since I’ve been playing. It just feels so good to be back and see everybody. It was a lot of fun.”
Nobody was more thrilled to see Stephenson than manager Tito Francona. Before the game, outfielder/clean-up hitter Austin Hays was placed on the injured list.
“It helps, it helps, it just helps,” he said. “Losing Hays really hurts us. But to get that other right handed bat (Stephenson)…he’s a veteran major league player and that does help.”
The Nationals were all but helpless against Greene and his 100 miles an hour fast balls, diving sliders and disappearing cutters.
Greene lived on the perimeters of the strike zone, forcing the Nationals into defensive, protective swings that resulted in those 40 foul balls.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
It also piled up Greene’s pitch count — 114 over the six innings. The Nationals swung 63 times and put only nine balls in play.
One, though, nearly knocked Greene out of the game — the 97 miles an hour second-inning line drive hit by CJ Abrams off Greene’s right shoulder.
Greene couldn’t find the ball right away, then scrambled after it, but Abrams crossed first with an infield hit.
The only other hit was a leadoff home run into the rightfield moon deck by Josh Bell leading off the fifth.
Of the line drive, Greene said, “You have a lot of adrenaline and it isn’t like getting hit by a come-backer in batting practice. It hit me in the high lat part, where there is a lot of meat and muscle.”
Francona and the medical staff quickly converged on the mound and Greene just as quickly dismissed them.
“He was real convincing, which was good,” said Francona. “It scares ya. That ball was a bullet. I’ll betcha he is going to be sore tomorrow.”
Greene struck out the first hitter in the sixth, then walked James Wood on a full count. Lowe fouled off several pitches before striking out.
With the pitch count mounting, Francona was squirming in the dugout as Ruiz fouled off seven pitches on a full count before Greene struck him out with his 114th and final pitch.
“I was getting madder by the pitch,” said Francona. “He deserved to finish that inning. But there was a guy who took a bullet off the shoulder. So I was feeling it a little bit. That was going to be his last hitter.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
And that last hitter, Ruiz, struck out on a full count.
The Reds were facing left hander Mitchell Parker and the Nationals had won five of his previous six starts. But as good as Greene was, Parker was that bad.
In only three innings, he walked four and all four scored. In those three innings, he used up 83 pitches, only 48 for strikes.
He walked Matt McClain and Elly De La Cruz back-to-back in the first and both scored on Santiago Espinal’s double.
He walked Stephenson to open the second, loaded the bases, and Stephenson scored on TJ Friedl’s fielder’s choice to make it 3-0.
He walked Espinal with one out in the third, Spencer Steer beat an infield single and Stephenson pulled a two-run double into the left field corner to make it 5-0.
Stephenson doubled to open the sixth, Jose Trevino stretched his hitting streak to seven games with a single and Stephenson scored on Friedl’s sacrifice fly to make it 6-1.
The Reds have won six of their last eight, the two losses coming in one day, a doubleheader sweep by the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.
NEXT GAME
What: Nationals at Reds
When: Saturday, May 3, 6:40 p.m.
TV: FanDuel Sports
Radio: 1410-AM
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