Greene's return to the bigs takes another big step

Reds ace Hunter Greene took another step toward his eventual return to the big league mound on Tuesday, firing four scoreless innings in his second rehab start for Triple-A Louisville.

The All-Star righty threw 64 pitches (36 strikes) to 15 batters, allowing two hits and walking one while recording three strikeouts against Triple-A St. Paul. His high-octane fastball sat at 98.4 mph and topped out at 99.5 mph. He effectively mixed in his slider and splitter, too.

Greene, who underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow in March, is scheduled to make his third rehab start on Sunday and slated to throw 70 to 85 pitches for Louisville.

In his first rehab start for the ACL Reds, on June 18, Greene struck out six across four scoreless frames while throwing 54 pitches.

The Reds (37-40) entered play on Tuesday 10 1/2 games behind the first-place Brewers in the NL Central but just three games behind the Cubs for the third and final NL Wild Card spot.

That is where Greene’s impending return looms large. Pairing him with 23-year-old Chase Burns would give the Reds one of the best 1-2 punches in all of baseball. In Greene’s absence, Cincinnati’s rotation has pitched to a 4.35 ERA, 15th best in the Majors entering play on Tuesday.