Greene takes no-hit bid into 7th, shuts out playoff-bound Cubs on one hit

CINCINNATI -- There’s finishing what you start. There’s finishing with a kick. Then there’s what Hunter Greene pulled off Thursday night against one of the best offenses in baseball when his teammates needed him the most.

The Cincinnati right-hander overpowered and overmatched the Cubs for nine innings, registering the first nine-inning complete-game shutout of his career, a 1-0 Reds win that keeps them two games off the pace of the Mets for the third and final National League Wild Card spot.

The Reds’ lone run came on Will Benson’s double in the fourth inning.

Meanwhile, Greene pitched like a man on a mission all night, right up through his strikeout of Ian Happ to end the game. But what made Greene’s one-hitter so incredible was how hard he was throwing with command and control.

Consider:

• Greene threw two 101.5 mph pitches in the ninth inning, the second- and third-fastest pitches by a starter in the ninth inning under pitch tracking (since 2008). Tigers ace Tarik Skubal hit 102.6 mph in the ninth inning of his shutout of the Guardians on May 25.
• Greene is the second starter under pitch tracking with multiple 101.0+ mph pitches (Greene had three) in the ninth, joining Detroit's Justin Verlander on April 16, 2012.
• He threw 109 pitches. The velocity on No. 107 was 101.5 mph.
• Greene threw six pitches at 100.0+ mph in the ninth inning, two more than any other starter in the ninth inning of a game under pitch tracking.
• Greene’s 101.3 mph strikeout in the ninth was the second-fastest strikeout pitch by a starter in the ninth inning or later under pitch tracking, behind only Skubal’s 102.6 mph on May 25.

No wonder manager Terry Francona didn’t have a single arm loosening in the bullpen as the top of the ninth began, despite the fact the Reds were up by just a run. Francona wasn’t about to get in the way of Greene, because he could see exactly what the Cubs saw and the crowd at Great American Ball Park saw -- overpowering stuff from Cincinnati's ace.

“I didn't want to try,” Francona said of possibly lifting Greene at 93 pitches after eight innings. “We didn't even have anybody throwing in the bullpen. I mean, he was going to [finish]. He earned the right to try to finish that game.”

As for the 101+ mph four-seam fastballs in the ninth?

“He's pretty amped up, but I will say, he stayed in his delivery,” Francona said. “He didn't start overthrowing. The best pitch for me on the night was strike one, because sometimes they did get a little overamped. [But] he still commanded, and he stayed in his delivery the entire time.”

The Cubs were held to a ground-ball double with two outs in the seventh by Seiya Suzuki, just under the glove of Sal Stewart at third. But after that pitch, Greene seemed to find another gear. He retired Carson Kelly on a groundout and then registered three straight groundouts in the eighth before Michael Busch sent a charge into a 99.2 mph four-seam fastball that landed in Benson’s glove at the edge of the warning track.

Nico Hoerner and Happ struck out looking and Greene had his one-hit, complete-game shutout.

"I mean, there was a [101.5] mph pitch thrown in the ninth inning,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said of Greene. “That's impressive. That's why he's so good. It's elite velocity. It's the best there is in the big leagues. To pitch [109], and he's throwing [101.5], you've got to tip your cap to that."

In the clubhouse afterward, Greene was greeted with an embrace by his catcher Thursday night, Tyler Stephenson.

“That's the gift that he has, being able to do that,” Stephenson said of Greene’s triple-digit ninth-inning fastballs. “And, I mean consistently to be able to throw that hard. He’s been able to do that for kind of his whole career, so it's special. And, yeah, he did a helluva job when we needed it. He stepped up.”

Greene wasn’t about to be denied on this night, five months after coming within an out of a 2-0 shutout in San Francisco on April 7. He was pulled after a single and a walk with two outs that night. He retired the final seven batters he faced Thursday, and he totaled nine strikeouts to one walk.

“San Francisco flashed kind of through my mind,” Greene said. “And, I was telling myself, 'This is my game.' I told Tito that the next game that I pitched deep into that situation, I wanted to finish it. I'm glad I was able to not just show myself that, but also Tito and the team.”

Saturday night in Sacramento, an 11-5 loss to the Athletics, was a distant memory. That night, he allowed five runs on four hits and four walks in just 2 1/3 innings. This time, Greene was in complete command from the start.

“Just trying to get back on the horse and understand how the last game doesn't define me,” Greene said. “There's a lot of up and downs and failures in the sport, I've been able to overcome a lot of those over the years. And it was just another one that I knew I was going to overcome.”