Hunter Greene, the reigning National League player of the week, did a fine job at limiting hits in his five-inning start against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday.
The problem was half of those hits went over the fence.
In a game that featured a combined six homers, the Cincinnati Reds came up a swing short in their 5-4 loss at Great American Ball Park to open their weekend three-game series. Joey Votto, pinch-hitting with two runners on base and two outs in the ninth inning and drawing a standing ovation from the crowd of 21,147, flew out to the warning track for the final out.
"This place is a Cracker Jack box,” said Brad Boxberger, who earned the save with closer Josh Hader on the paternity list, told Milwaukee reporters. “I knew (Votto) didn’t get it, but anything in the air here, you never know.”
After the Reds erased a four-run deficit, lefty reliever Ross Detwiler surrendered the go-ahead run on a solo homer to Keston Hiura in the seventh inning on a down-the-middle fastball.
The Reds deployed Detwiler to face left-handed batters before the top of the lineup arrived. Hiura, a righty batter sandwiched between lefties, drilled a first-pitch fastball over the fence in center field. Hiura entered the at-bat with a .111 batting average and 27 strikeouts in 45 at-bats against lefties.
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Greene had trouble working ahead in counts, throwing a first-pitch strike to just six of the 21 batters he faced, but it speaks to the quality of his pitches that the Brewers didn’t do more damage against him. He didn’t give up a hit across his first three innings.
"That put me in a lot of bad spots having to crawl out of that," said Greene, who allowed four hits, four runs and two walks in five innings while striking out six. "Doing that at this level is very difficult. Putting yourself in that position is the last thing you want to do. ... All it takes is one pitch."
A 27-pitch fourth inning was a different story for Greene. Rowdy Tellez and Andrew McCutchen opened the inning with back-to-back soft singles that found space in the outfield. Hunter Renfroe followed with a loud three-run homer to left field, pulling a 98-mph fastball that caught the inside part of the plate.
It was the first homer Greene surrendered this month, ending an 18 2/3-inning homer-less stretch. One of his goals was becoming more of an uncomfortable at-bat for hitters and avoiding homers helped fuel the strongest stretch of his season.
"These guys, being in our division, I recognize that I’m going to have to face them a lot, especially in the years to come," Greene said. "It’s tough when you face a team so many times and you can’t make up new pitches. I’m not going to go up there and throw a knuckleball or do any of that. I just have to really focus on executing those pitches when I need to."
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Greene struggled to find a put-away pitch in his final inning. He had a 10-pitch at-bat that ended with a strikeout against Hiura. Willy Adames fouled three consecutive pitches in his at-bat, then hit a solo homer when Greene threw his third straight slider to him.
"Something I’ve been working on is making sure my double and triple-ups are better than the previous pitch," said Greene, who has permitted eight homers in three starts against Milwaukee. "It can’t be just as good as a previous (pitch) and it can’t be worse. It has to be better and I didn’t do that."
The Reds climbed back from a four-run deficit against left-hander Eric Lauer via the longball. It was the third time Lauer has yielded at least four runs in a start, and two are from his last two outings.
Albert Almora Jr. ended the Reds’ shutout in the fifth inning when he lofted a two-run homer into the left-field seats. Lauer shouted into his glove at the end of the inning.
In the sixth inning, Brandon Drury and Tommy Pham homered on consecutive pitches to tie the score. Drury pulled a curveball to left field and Pham went opposite-field on a fastball. It was Drury’s sixth homer in his last 12 games.
It was the second time the Reds hit back-to-back homers this season, both times against the Brewers and both instances included Pham.
After fighting to tie the score, the Reds' bullpen couldn't hold it there. It’s the fourth time the Reds lost this month when they were tied or leading after six innings, a rough stretch for a bullpen that lost Tony Santillan (lower back pain) to the 15-day injured list Friday and will be without Lucas Sims until at least mid-July.
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