Greene gets back to business, twirls 12-K gem against Cubs

CINCINNATI -- From Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene's right arm, the strikes were being pumped out one after another on Friday against the Cubs.

Greene struck out 12 batters over seven scoreless innings as the Reds took a 4-0 victory over Chicago in the series opener at Great American Ball Park. Elly De La Cruz and JJ Bleday each provided a home run to support his effort.

“He pounded the zone with really good stuff," manager Terry Francona said.

Greene gave up three hits and one walk as Cincinnati's rotation has produced seven-inning starts in consecutive games. Brady Singer gave up one run over 7 1/3 innings in a 1-0 loss to the Phillies on Wednesday.

With 68 of his 93 pitches (73%) being strikes, Greene threw a first-pitch strike to 19 of his 25 batters, including 11 of 12 on first-pitch fastballs. From his arsenal overall, 82 of the pitches were either a four-seam fastball -- averaging 99.1 mph -- or a slider.

"I think we probably hit four balls hard tonight," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. "Five baserunners in total in the night, so that’s not never going to be enough.”

Through the fifth inning, 15 of 17 batters saw a first-pitch strike from Greene.

“The foundation is obviously throwing strikes and being able to expand off that. When I’m able to execute that … it tends to lead to success," said Greene, who now has 13 career games with 10 or more strikeouts.

It was a reversal from Greene's disappointing season debut last Saturday in a loss to the Orioles, when he allowed eight runs over 3 1/3 innings. He missed most of the first half after he had arthroscopic surgery on March 11 to remove bone chips from his right elbow.

“In my first game, the excitement got to me. I didn’t do a good job of staying within myself and I wasn’t at my best," Greene said. “You have to have a short-term memory in this game, whether you’re a pitcher or position player.”

Greene retired 12 of his first 13 batters with seven strikeouts. In the second inning after Seiya Suzuki hit a leadoff double, he recovered and struck out the next three batters he faced.

"I said in the fourth inning that there’s nobody on this planet that’s better than Hunter Greene when he’s at his best," said closer Emilio Pagán, who struck out the side in the ninth inning to end the night. "There’s guys that are maybe as good as him, but when he’s going, he’s in a groove, his stuff, his command, his competitiveness, he’s up there with the best on the planet. It’s a real joy to watch him pitch.”

In the seventh inning, Suzuki hit a one-out single to center field before Ian Happ followed with a walk. Greene got a Nico Hoerner flyout to center field before striking out Michael Conforto on a splitter in the dirt.

“Then when you score, even if it’s not in bunches, it’s meaningful," Francona said. "He had power to his fastball and then when they started to maybe cheat a little bit, he’d throw offspeed. He was good.”

In his last two starts vs. the Cubs, Greene has 16 scoreless innings. On Sept. 18, 2025, he pitched a complete-game one-hit shutout for a 1-0 win.

De La Cruz was responsible for the game's first two runs. Against Shota Imanaga leading off the fifth inning, he broke up the scoreless tie by hitting a 0-1 fastball to left-center field for his 15th homer of the season. Heading into the plate appearance, he had been 0-for-12 with three strikeouts against Imanaga.

The way Greene was pitching, De La Cruz wanted to support his effort.

“It was so important," De La Cruz said. "Imanaga was dealing tonight. He was doing a great job, so it was so important to get to him."

In the seventh against reliever Jake Woodford, De La Cruz zinged a one-out triple down the right-field line and came home on Sal Stewart's sacrifice fly.

Spencer Steer kept the inning going by reaching on an infield single to the hole at shortstop for his third hit of the game before Bleday made it a four-run advantage, hitting a 1-0 Woodford pitch to right-center field for a two-run homer -- also his 15th of the season.

The Reds (43-50), who had dropped eight of 11 games coming into Friday, are now 6-20 vs. their National League Central division rivals this season.

“Sometimes you hand the ball to your best players and get out of the way," Pagán said. "Hunter and Elly, Spence and JJ, they did a great job tonight. It carried us. It was fun to see.”