Hunter Greene flashes promise, brilliance again in Cincinnati Reds win over Texas Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas – These are the days that tantalize, that promise, that make all those people around Hunter Greene keep preaching patience on all those other days that don't look like this one.

Because when he's right, when Greene pitches instead of hurls, like he did so well for so many innings Saturday against the defending-champion Rangers in Texas, he looks like a $53 million ace, and the Cincinnati Reds look like a team with players that can win playoff games.

“The best pitchers who have ever played this game, they’re not perfect,” Reds manager David Bell said. “That’s really important to remember. When a start doesn’t go your way or isn’t perfect, how quick can you get right back after it and pick up where you left off? He’s right on track.”

The bigger, continual question with Greene and all that pitching talent that made him the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 draft has been when a start like this goes his way, can he stay on the rails five days later? And then five days after that?

Greene's seven one-hit, scoreless innings against the Rangers not only earned him his first win since Sept. 10, but it also meant he had back-to-back seven-inning starts for the first time in his career.

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He'd gone seven innings deep only four times before this season, two each last season and in 2022 as a rookie.

Could these last two starts — when he seemed to rely more heavily on his fastball location and stayed out of big innings — be the kind of turning point the Reds and fans have anticipated since his touted debut?

Maybe even part of a three-week turning point that involves at least six innings pitched in four of five starts?

“I can’t really answer that,” Greene said. “My approach hasn’t changed. It’s not going to change. There’s so many factors that go into coming out with a win. There’s been times I’ve thrown no-hitters or one-hitters and we still haven’t won.”

Like that career-high 7 1/3 innings against Pittsburgh without allowing a hit as a rookie — a gem that turned into a 1-0 loss on his ledger after a pair of eighth-inning walks he issued led to the only run of the game on a grounder after he was pulled.

“It’s baseball, man. Baseball’s funny,” he said. “Baseball’s really hard.”

Bell, the eternal optimist and players' manager, said he sees growth and signs. And just because his loyalties lean that direction doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

The fact Greene gave up early runs in two of those last five starts and still settled in to give the Reds six innings against the Mets and seven against the Phillies suggests a more veteran look than the last two seasons.

“That can give you confidence,” Bell said. “You can take a big win from a day that might not be your best.”

So can the bullpen. And that’s hard to overstate for a team with playoff aspirations.

“Even when things don’t go well, he’s handling it just right,” Bell said. “He’s working on the right things.

“And if he continues to do that we’re going to see his talent take over, and he’s going to be able to string consistent starts together.”

At 24, Greene still is one of the youngest starting pitchers in the majors, especially among those who have been an Opening Day starter (2023).

Saturday was only his 52nd start, and maybe it seems a lot to keep harping about the promised greatness and patience preached.

But he’s the only player on the roster under contract beyond next year, the one the club gave the six-year, $53 million deal because of the promise of that ceiling.

And days like Saturday, or those six innings of no-hit pitching at Wrigley Field in a win last June, or even that loss in Pittsburgh the year before — these are why the questions won’t stop until the roller-coaster does.

“We feel great about our pitching staff, and Hunter’a s big part of that,” Bell said. “He just needs to continue to stay focused on what he’s doing. He can’t jump ahead, thinking too far ahead.”

That’s what Greene talked about, staying present, trying to win each time.

Learning to compete deeper into games more often with every start.

Maybe this is a turning point. Maybe it’s the same tease.

But if it’s a growth trend, consider a rotation that also has lefty Nick Lodolo back to health and dealing and that runs six deep with sneaky good second-year Andrew Abbott, hard-throwing, hard-nosed Graham Ashcraft and talented veterans Frankie Montas and Nick Martinez.

If Hunter Greene has found his inflection point to start stringing those starts Bell talked about, this starts looking like the kind of rotation that can beat teams in October, that can beat teams like the Phillies and Rangers.

“The main thing to be able to remember is when you see other playoff and World Series rotations, it’s guys that have experience,” Greene said. “That goes a long way. So I think a lot of people need to keep that in perspective, how young our rotation is, and the experience that we have is not much.

“But it’s exciting because we’re hungry to keep growing, to keep getting better.”

At least he didn’t ask for any more patience.

Notes

When Greene gave up his only hit in Saturday’s 8-4 win, it was a leadoff double in what was still a 3-0 game in the fifth. But he got a grounder, fly ball and an exceptional play from shortstop Elly De La Cruz on another grounder to strand the runner at third. De La Cruz charged a slow roller and threw across his body on the run to get speedy Travis Jankowski by a step. “That was one of the best plays I’ve seen all year,” said Bell, the former big-league infielder. “He made it look relatively easy, but charging and going away from first base, that was just a great play.” … Saturday also marked De La Cruz’s 17th straight game without an error after committing four of his five this season in one week. … Jonathan India matched a career high with four hits Saturday, including a two-run homer in the seventh — after finishing Friday’s game with hits in his last two at-bats. He was 12-for-74 (.162) this season before that. … After a quick eighth inning of work, reliever Brent Suter gave up four runs in the ninth Saturday, snapping his scoreless streak at 14 1/3 innings.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds' Hunter Greene flashes October upside vs. champs