LOS ANGELES -- A Los Angeles native who went to many games at Dodger Stadium as a kid -- including during the postseason -- Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene called the opportunity to start his first career playoff game vs. the Dodgers a special "full-circle moment."
Four pitches into Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series on Tuesday, Shohei Ohtani smashed that full circle with a booming home run. It was one of three homers that Greene surrendered -- among the five slugged overall -- during a 10-5 Reds loss.
“They just took advantage of some opportunities and some pitches," catcher Tyler Stephenson said of Greene's outing.
Often erratic while unable to meet the moment of the biggest game of his career, Greene lasted only three innings and allowed five runs, six hits and two walks with four strikeouts while throwing 65 pitches.
Greene had trouble locating his fastball and his usually strong slider was ineffective. Add it up and it led to too much trouble against a powerful lineup.
“It’s not an excuse. It’s the biggest game -- so far -- of the year so that stuff should be there and unfortunately, it wasn’t," Greene said.
In a 2-1 count to Ohtani in the bottom of the first inning, Greene threw a 100.4 mph fastball. While Stephenson seemed to set up for the pitch inside, Greene left it too much over the plate and it was demolished for a leadoff home run to right field -- Ohtani's first of two long balls on the night -- that whipped the home crowd into a frenzy.
"It was a really hard pitch to hit, but I felt like I reacted pretty well. I was happy I was able to help the team score early," Ohtani said via an interpreter.
Speeding out like a comet, the ball was tracked at 117.7 mph off Ohtani's bat -- the fourth-hardest postseason homer since Statcast debuted in 2015. It was the third time in Greene's career he gave up a leadoff homer.
“It’s part of it. [Ohtani] is a great player," second baseman Matt McLain said. "He put a good swing on Hunter, who is a great pitcher. You’ve got to fight back. It’s only 1-0.”
With one out in the third inning, Greene seemed to lose control as he issued back-to-back walks to Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy. Then after a wild pitch moved up the runners, Teoscar Hernández made Greene pay dearly by hitting a 1-0 slider for a three-run homer into the left-field seats. An 0-1 slider to next batter Tommy Edman was left hanging and lifted for back-to-back homers with a drive into the right-field seats to extend the lead to 5-0.
“I’m frustrated," Greene said. "But I have a lot of confidence I’ll be back in this position and we’ll be able to come out on top.”
The second homers of the night by Hernández and Ohtani against reliever Connor Phillips made it an 8-0 game in the sixth inning by the time the Reds offense came to life. Dodgers starter Blake Snell took a shutout into the seventh inning while enjoying a stretch of 11 in a row retired.
Back-to-back one-out singles by Austin Hays and Spencer Steer got things started. Hays scored when Elly De La Cruz grounded to shortstop and beat out the double play.
Stephenson's RBI double to left field off Snell provided a second run. The Dodgers' shaky bullpen let the Reds close the gap with three runs allowed during a 59-pitch eighth that featured three relievers. It included four one-out walks -- two with the bases loaded -- and an RBI single by Steer to center field that made it a five-run deficit.
With the bases still loaded, Stephenson dueled lefty Jack Dreyer with an 11-pitch at-bat before striking out. The inning's ninth batter, Ke'Bryan Hayes, popped out to first base as the rally was too little, too late.
The Reds hope that putting a dent in the Dodgers bullpen can be to their benefit on Wednesday.
“You got a look at the guys. You’ve got to make them throw," Steer said. "It’s always good to add pressure and add runs late in the game. It just wasn’t our day.”
Just like that, the Reds are staring down an elimination game, down 1-0 in the best-of-three series. Game 2 is Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN, with Zack Littell opposing Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
The Reds have spent the past month playing must-win games following crushing defeats as they tried to stay in the playoff chase. Now they will have to do it again when it counts the most.
“It feels like we’ve had our backs against the wall plenty of times this year, and that seems like when we’re playing our best," Steer said. "Our backs are against the wall tomorrow and we’re going to come out and show some fight tomorrow and hopefully, make something happen.”