Hunter Greene shows his growth as the Reds take the series over the Dodgers

One of the beautiful things about baseball is that every night, managers face situations that test how much confidence they have in specific players. As managers shuffle the lineup, plot out bullpen usage and signal the running game, they provide a window into what they’re really thinking.

In the sixth inning on Saturday at Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell faced one of those moments with starting pitcher Hunter Greene. Bell stuck with Greene, and Greene completed his most impressive start of the season with one of the most impressive innings of his big league career. He allowed one run in six innings as the Reds beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-1.

"I was telling myself, 'It's my game,'" Greene said.

Early in Bell’s managerial career, one of his defining characteristics was that he had a quick hook with his starting pitchers. When Bell was a player, he always felt like he had an added edge at the plate when he faced a starting pitcher for the third time in the game. That history typically shapes Bell’s decision making.

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In a game that the Reds led by a run, Greene entered the sixth inning at 94 pitches, and the star-studded top of the Dodgers’ lineup was due up. Conventional wisdom suggested that Bell would have the right-handed Greene face the right-handed Mookie Betts, and then use a left-handed reliever to enter out of the bullpen to face two of the best left-handed hitters in the game in Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.

This time, Bell made a gut decision and stuck with Greene. The 24-year-old starter worked around a triple by Ohtani and gave the Reds another scoreless inning.

"(Greene) is going to keep getting opportunities to do that," Bell said. "He pitched a great game up to that point against this team, and he got better as he went. His pitch count was manageable. There was a lot that went into it. But mainly, we want him out there. I want him out there for the sixth against the toughest part of the order. It wasn't just one inning. It was a really big inning for us to be able to win that game."

Last season, or even a few weeks ago, Greene likely wouldn’t have received the opportunity to go back out for the sixth inning. But for the last month, Greene has been showing a more mature and a more confident approach on the mound.

During that stretch, he posted a 2.03 ERA while averaging over six innings per start. He doesn’t look like a young pitcher anymore.

"My headspace has been to try to stay present," Greene said in his postgame press conference while holding his new French bulldog, Ross, in his arms. "Just compete."

Greene has backed down with his velocity, developed a more consistent fastball and turned his splitter into a weapon. He got Ohtani to strike out with that new pitch twice on Saturday, and Greene is taking advantage of having a reliable third pitch in his tool belt for the first time.

"Being able to read (Ohtani's) swings and play that chess game back and forth with each other, all of that is super important," Greene said. "Seeing how he approached me last game and how I can keep him off beat, that was the focus with him."

Greene faced a few moments on Saturday where his start could have unraveled. In the second inning, the Dodgers loaded the bases with a walk and two flare singles. Greene dialed up the best version of his fastball and got a double play and a groundout, allowing just one run to score.

The sixth inning was the other occasion where the Dodgers could have ruined his game. Following Ohtani’s triple, Greene had to get two outs against two All-Stars. With Fernando Cruz warming up in the Reds’ bullpen, Greene filled up the strike zone and got two weak fly outs that ended the inning.

Greene pitched with the lead for most of the game. Reds first baseman Spencer Steer started off the game with a home run in the first inning, and center fielder Will Benson capitalized on a pitch that was right down the middle for his seventh home run of the season.

As the Reds try to claw their way back up the standings, they’re counting on some of the team’s more established players to pick up an offense that has struggled in May. Second baseman Jonathan India did his part with a go-ahead grand slam on Friday, Steer homered on Friday and Saturday and Benson also homered in the second game of the series.

With the victory, the Reds clinched their first series win since April 21. The Reds still have a 6-16 record in May, but the Dodgers series was a reminder of why expectations were high for the Reds entering the season, and why the Reds’ players and coaches are still speaking with confidence about the team’s potential in 2024.

"We were talking about it in the clubhouse, when you beat teams like these guys, it gives you a lot of confidence going forward," Greene said. "The approach of playing all nine innings, playing each pitch, not taking a pitch off, it's draining. It should be draining. You should be done with the game and be mentally and physically exhausted. I feel like we were able to do that this series."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Hunter Greene shows his growth as the Reds beat the Dodgers