WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Hunter Greene might not have been able to pick a worse time for his shortest career start as the Cincinnati Reds wasted another silver-platter opportunity to gain ground on the National League playoff field and lost for the second night in a row to the also-ran Athletics in their minor-league ballpark along the Sacramento River.
The Reds didn’t lose ground in the playoff chase, but they lost a precious game off the schedule after both teams ahead of them for the final NL berth also lost Sept. 13.
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After the 11-5 loss at Sutter Health Park, the Reds have 14 games left, dropped back to .500 for the season (74-74) and are still chasing both the New York Mets (1 1/2 games behind) and the San Francisco Giants (one game behind).
Hunter Greene lasted just 2 1/3 innings in the shortest start of his career Saturday against the Athletics.
Six days after pitching a gem to beat the Mets, Greene lasted just 2 1/3 innings against the A’s, walked four, gave up five runs and four hits, including two home runs. He got a no-decision thanks to Tyler Stephenson’s tying, three-run home run in the fourth.
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But the five-plus innings turned out to be too big an ask of the bullpen, which eventually allowed the go-ahead run in the seventh and five more in the eighth – including rookie Nick Kurtz’s grand slam off Scott Barlow that cleared the batter’s eye in straightaway center field.
That 493-foot shot is the longest MLB has measured this season.
Greene’s previous shortest start came in his fifth career start in 2022 in Milwaukee, where he went 2 2/3 innings (five runs).
Reds center fielder Will Benson celebrates after hitting a two-run home run against the Athletics during the second inning at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento on Sept. 13.
In this one, he labored from the start walking the first batter he faced, struggling to locate his off-speed pitches, needing 53 pitches to get through two and eventually throwing 84 pitches to get through 16 batters.
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A Brent Rooker home run leading off the second and a two-out, two-run shot by Carlos Cortez later in the inning erased an early Reds lead.
And after a single, walk, strikeout, double steal, wild pitch and walk to start the third, Jacob Wilson drove a shot back to the mound that caromed off Greene’s left foot and past Sal Stewart at first base for a run-scoring double.
Greene was able to quickly recover and get in position to back up the plate. That was it for him, and he walked alongside the trainer as he left the mound but did not appear to be hurt.
Rookie Connor Phillips got a strikeout and pop-up to escape further damage.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds lose again, waste another chance to gain on Mets, S.F.