The one thing that stood between Hunter Greene and a perfect outing in a 7-0 victory Monday was a 55-foot bunt single that refused to roll foul near the third-base line in the first inning.
Daulton Varsho, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ leadoff hitter, dropped a bunt onto the infield grass on Greene’s fifth pitch of the evening. He was the last hitter to successfully reach first base against Greene on the rookie righthander’s most dominant start of the season.
Everyone knows the high-velocity version of Greene, capable of regularly hitting triple-digits on the radar gun. Monday was the version of Greene where he didn’t have to rely on his pure stuff as much as he just outpitched every batter.
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Greene permitted one baserunner and faced the minimum number of required hitters through seven innings before rain ended the game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. He struck out eight and walked none in front of 9,485 fans.
He was the first Reds pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout in a game shorter than nine innings since Trevor Bauer on Aug. 19, 2020, which came in a seven-inning doubleheader.
Greene retired 20 consecutive hitters after Varsho’s bunt single. He didn’t throw any pitches above 100 mph, but the Diamondbacks had trouble touching his fastball, particularly when he elevated it at the top of the strike zone.
He mixed in a few more changeups than usual, but he overpowered hitters with his fastball and slider. After more than two trips through Arizona’s lineup, Greene had produced an impressive 12 whiffs on 25 swings against his fastball.
Another part that stood out about Greene was his ability to induce weak contact. The Diamondbacks didn’t have any hard-hit balls against him in the first seven innings. Typically, hitters can produce a high exit velocity against Greene because he throws so hard, but these at-bats were all pop-ups, routine flyouts and strikeouts.
Varsho’s bunt single in the first inning was erased on a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play. Greene never had to pitch out of the stretch again. He threw no more than 16 pitches in any inning and he looked set to complete all nine innings following a five-pitch seventh inning.
There were only two batters in Arizona’s lineup, Christian Walker and Geraldo Perdomo, who he didn’t strike out.
Greene has shown many glimpses of his potential through the first 11 starts of his rookie season. He didn’t back down against Atlanta in his MLB debut. He dazzled when he returned to his hometown to face the Los Angeles Dodgers, breaking records with his fastball velocity. He struck out seven of the first 10 batters he faced in Boston. He didn’t allow a hit over 7 1/3 innings against Pittsburgh.
This was the best of the bunch, a night where he imposed his will. The scary part? His fastball velocity wasn’t at its peak. It wasn’t his best game with his slider. And it didn’t matter.
Developing young pitchers is vital for the Reds in a rebuilding season and the 22-year-old Greene is learning at a rapid pace. After a rough inning spoiled Greene's start in Boston last week, the Reds couldn't have dreamed up a better response.
The Reds gave Greene a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Brandon Drury missed a double down the left-field line by about three feet when he hooked the ball foul, then he thumped an opposite-field solo homer on the next pitch.
It was Drury’s 10th home run of the season, which leads the team and ranks 13th in the National League. He hit a career-high 16 homers with the Diamondbacks in 2016 during his age-23 season. Manager David Bell didn’t know Drury personally when he signed a minor-league contract in spring training, but he heard a lot about him from his late brother, Mike, who was the Diamondbacks’ longtime farm director.
Kyle Farmer hit a two-run double off Madison Bumgarner in the fifth inning, scoring Tyler Stephenson from first base, on a line drive to center field that skipped past diving center fielder Alek Thomas.
Bumgarner, who always pitches with an extra level of intensity, appeared unhappy with home-plate umpire Dan Merzel’s strike zone in the first inning, and irritated when he was asked to throw a ball he was using to the dugout because he was unaware it was Joey Votto’s 800th career extra-base hit. It was the third time this season Bumgarner surrendered at least four runs in a start this season.
Stephenson hit a two-run double in the seventh inning and Albert Almora Jr. added an RBI single before umpires called for the tarp. It was raining so hard the grounds crew was unable to drag the water-filled tarp over the entirety of the infield, requiring three small tarps, an advertising banner and a tarp cover to fill the gaps.
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