Second — For the second straight game, the Reds wasted spectacular pitching as Hunter Greene followed up the sensational pitching of Carson Spiers.
Third — For the second straight game, the Reds had the tying run on base in the ninth inning with their best hitters, Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz, coming to bat. Both failed both times.
Fourth — There was a historical perspective involving Texas starter Jack Leiter, who held the Reds to no runs and one hit over five innings before leaving with a blistered finger.
Back in 1999, the Reds were involved in a one-game playoff for the last wild card spot. They faced Jack’s father, Al Leiter. He pitched a two-hit 5-0 shutout for the New York Mets, sending the Reds home for the season.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
So the 2025 Reds have now been shutout two straight days...18 innings, no runs.
“If I thought yelling at them would get us a bunch of hits, I’d go do it right now,” said Reds manager Terry Francona during his post-game media session.
Asked about changing the line-up and/or the batting order to generate some offense, Francona said, “Hey, we’ve played everybody. It’s a little too early to panic.”
Greene, still claiming his secondary pitches are missing, gave up one run and three hits over seven innings, consistently throwing fastballs clocked over 100 miles an hour.
His only glitch was in the fourth inning. He gave up a leadoff single to Joc Pederson on a ball shortstop De La Cruz just missed with a leap. With two outs, Josh Smith doubled up the left-center gap, scoring Pederson.
That was it. Greene retired the last 10 he faced, leaving after 94 pitches, 74 for strikes. Along the way, when he struck out Jake Burger in the seventh it was his 500th career strikeout.
He became the fastest Reds starting pitcher to reach 500 in his career.
“He was really, really good,” said Francona. “They backed up a couple of hits. That’s how they scored because he was tremendous.”
Those two hits by Pederson and Smith were two of the three hits the Rangers had all day.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Leiter, a power pitcher, obviously watched Nathan Eovaldi shut out the Reds Tuesday with an assortment of off-speed pitches and mimicked him with change-ups and slinky sliders.
He retired the first 11 Reds until De La Cruz lined a double to left with two outs in the fourth. De La Cruz led MLB with 20 steals of third base last season and stole third in the fourth. But Leiter struck out Gavin Lux.
After Leiter left, the Reds were afforded scoring opportunities in the seventh, eighth and ninth to no avail.
McLain reached on a throwing error by third baseman Ezequiel Duran to open the seventh. But flame-throwing Robert Garcia came in and struck out De La Cruz and Lux, then ended the inning by getting Jeimer Candelario on a ground ball.
Jake Fraley singled with two outs in the eighth and made a baserunning gaffe. He broke for second on a steal attempt, but left too soon. Pitcher Chris Martin stepped off the rubber, whirled quickly to face second and threw out Fraley.
“Yeah, we just mistimed it,” said Francona.
TJ Friedl opened the ninth with a one-out single against Texas closer Luke Jackson, bringing up McLain and De La Cruz.
McLain took a called strike three. De La Cruz did exactly the same thing he did Tuesday in the ninth with the tying run on base in the ninth and two outs. He grounded out to second base.
Greene continues to get better and better, with not much proof with his won-loss record.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
“I could have gone into the off-season complacent, thinking I had it all figured out and I might not have to work as hard,” he said. “It was the complete opposite. I worked the hardest I ever worked and my body feels the best I’ve ever felt going into the spring.
“I feel fantastic in every single facet of my game and what I focused on and it’s a very good feeling going in,” he added.
But does he feel pressure to be perfect when the offense is stagnant, a study in futility.
“I don’t think any of us are thinking that we have to go out there and be perfect,” he said.
Francona disagrees.
“Our pitching has been so good and at least we’ve had a chance,” he said. “It’s a big stress when you’re not scoring, it puts a strain on those guys and they’ve done a real good job.”
And Greene insists he is still searching for pitches to complement his fastballs.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
“My off-speed stuff is still not fully there yet,” he said. “I’m having some pretty good results, but I have to keep chipping away and it’ll be there soon. It’s cool to know I don’t fully have my stuff and I’m still able to get some good results.”
There was a defensive gem and, of course, it was performed by shortstop De La Cruz.
Leody Duran, leading off the eighth, hit a pop foul behind third base. De La Cruz was playing nearly behind second base. He sprinted 120 feet and dove head first and snagged the ball inches off the ground.
“The guys told me when I came here that he’ll go after balls like nobody you’ve ever seen and they weren’t lying,” said Francona.
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