PHOENIX – The stakes were much, much lower on Saturday than when Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene last took a mound in a game for Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series vs. the Dodgers.
Fortunately for Cincinnati, none of the numbers counted towards the bottom line for Greene's season. In his 2026 spring debut vs. the Brewers, he faced eight batters over two different innings. The right-hander got only three outs and was credited with one inning of work and allowed four earned runs, five hits and a walk while throwing 37 pitches (21 strikes). The Reds would go on to beat the Brewers, 9-7.
“Results obviously weren’t great but going in, the plan – especially adjusting to the ABS – I wanted to fill the zone up. I was probably too middle today," Greene said. "Obviously, it’s a good hitting team. I was trying to find a little bit more of those corners."
Milwaukee's first batter, Sal Frelick, led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple against Greene that was driven off the center-field wall. Frelick scored on a wild pitch slider in the dirt to the next batter, Jackson Chourio. Four straight singles followed, three of them sharply hit.
With Greene at 22 pitches already, he was lifted without notching an out and replaced by Minor Leaguer Julian Garcia. Under spring rules, Greene was able to re-enter the game to pitch the second inning.
Since Milwaukee batted around, Greene faced Frelick again to open the second and issued a walk. Then he got back-to-back ground balls – one for a fielder's choice, the other for an inning-ending double play - to escape and end his day.
"The good news is it was Spring Training and nobody is going to remember, and the ball was coming out really good," manager Terry Francona said. "He wasn't using all of his pitches, by design. Then we give him the ball and he goes back out, so it ends up being OK."
Physically, Greene felt fine. His four-seam fastball averaged 99.6 mph and maxed out at 101.1 mph. He also threw his slider and split-fingered fastball.
“I feel great," Greene said. "I feel strong. It’s obviously early, but I feel like I’m in a good place right now. I was easy with my velo and I felt like I was just up there playing catch.”
As the Reds expect to build on their brief experience in the playoffs last season, their deep starting rotation is obviously a big part of the club's confidence. And a key factor from that rotation is Greene, a 2024 All-Star.
Greene was 7-4 with a 2.76 ERA in 19 starts and 132 strikeouts over 107 2/3 innings last season. In his final outing, at Los Angeles in the playoffs, he was roughed up by three home runs for five runs over three innings in a 10-5 loss.
Health and durability will be key factors for Greene to have greater success in his upcoming fifth big league season. The team would no doubt love to see him easily exceed his career highs of 150 1/3 innings and 26 starts from 2024. His 2025 season was interrupted twice by a right groin strain, with the second instance putting him on the injured list for 2 1/2 months.
In '24, a bruised right elbow cost Greene five weeks on the IL in the second half of the season. Right hip pain sidelined him for two months in 2023.
“I know this. You’ll have a better chance to be durable if you put the work in, which he has," Francona said. “I thought last year, his work was phenomenal. Just continue the progression. You don’t have a crystal ball. You don’t know what happens, physically. But the better position guys can put themselves in, it should help as the season progresses.”
Three weeks into camp, Greene felt like he was hitting all of his checkpoints on his way to being ready for the regular season.
"I think I will be able to leave camp feeling great," he said. "I don’t see anything holding me back or anything like that. Just execution of pitches and making sure my stuff is sharp.”
Greene has been developing a two-seam fastball to go with his other three pitches but didn't use it on Saturday.
“Any time you give a hitter a different look, it’s something they have to respect," Francona said. "I didn’t think his four-seamer was straight, to be truthful. He’s got so much life on his ball.”