Many rookie pitchers would be pleased with the kind of outing Tejay Antone provided the Reds in his first big league start. But not Antone -- at least, not yet.

Antone provided a strong 4 1/3 innings during his first career start. Walks and two runs scored by Cleveland in the fifth inning were the difference on a night when Cincinnati managed only three hits in a 2-0 loss at Progressive Field.

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“I know I can do better than that,” Antone said. “I kept the team in the game and that's the goal as a starter, but I know I should have been able to go seven innings with what I had tonight besides the fastball.”

Ranked by MLB Pipeline as Cincinnati’s No. 24 prospect, Antone gave up one run and two hits with four walks and four strikeouts while throwing 82 pitches. Through two games and 8 2/3 innings in the Majors this season, he has a 2.08 ERA.

The 26-year-old Antone made his big league debut in relief against the Cubs on July 27 and allowed one hit -- a homer -- over 4 1/3 innings. His body language on the mound in both of his outings was that he knew he belonged here.

“His presence, it looks like he’s been there for years, and [he] just continues to impress us with, really, all of his pitches,” Reds manager David Bell said. “It’s a good lineup. To do what he did tonight in his first Major League start ... really happy for him. He’s showing that he’s going to be here and he’s going to be here for a long time.”

Called on to make a start after two rainouts and a doubleheader in the past week, Antone had to show some resilience after a smooth first two innings. In both the third and fourth innings, he put himself into a jam with leadoff four-pitch walks.

With the bases loaded for Cleveland superstar Francisco Lindor in the third inning, Antone threw a 97 mph 0-2 sinker. Lindor grounded to second base to start an important inning-ending double play.

“Huge at-bat,” Antone said. “Tucker [Barnhart] called an incredible at-bat right there, set up Lindor really well. I think he was thinking a slider or something because he was a little bit late. And, yeah, just jammed him. We’ve got one of the best infields in the game, so once it's on the ground, I knew it was gonna happen. And they made it happen. And that's huge for the team right there.”

There was one out in the fourth when Antone got Bradley Zimmer to ground an 0-2 curveball to third base for another inning-ending double play.

The leadoff walk finally bit Antone in the fifth after Jordan Luplow earned a five-pitch base on balls. Sandy Leon moved the runner to second base by grounding to Joey Votto at first base. Votto touched the bag but did not have a shot at throwing out Luplow at second base.

Antone was kicking himself for not throwing more strikes. His sinker/two-seam fastball had only a 6 percent called strike-whiff rate, according to Statcast.

“Just fastball execution. That’s really what I’m most disappointed with myself,” Antone said. "I walked [four] in the game and they were leadoff walks, which are just the worst of the worst. I was setting myself up for failure. I think I was trying to get a little too cute when I should just keep pounding the strike zone.”

Michael Lorenzen replaced Antone and immediately put the game in jeopardy with a four-pitch walk to Oscar Mercado. César Hernández hit an RBI single that scored Luplow for the game’s first run. Next, Ramirez grounded to shortstop for a force play at second base, but Mercado never stopped running and scored from second base with a brilliant head-first slide while evading Barnhart’s tag at the plate.

Until a spot opens in the rotation, a potential option for the struggling bullpen could be the man who started on Wednesday.

“He could be a quality, excellent reliever in this league, too, from what he’s showing,” Bell said before the game. “To be able to plug a guy like him in when we need a starter, to have this kind of depth when Wade Miley is out. We’re able to cover him. Our starting pitching depth is a real strength.”

Antone believed he would eventually reflect on his first big league start fondly.

“Once I get out of here, once I shower and get some food in me and kind of move on, I will remember this and be like, ‘That was cool,’” he said. “A Major League start was absolutely incredible.”