Hunter Greene fans six through seven innings

On Monday night, the Phillies gave Hunter Greene and the Reds a preview of what they aim to achieve in the future.

The skill of lefty Ranger Suárez was once again on full show, making this one of baseball’s strongest rotations during the opening month.

The Reds mustered just two hits, a liner by Christian Encarnacion-Strand in the fifth inning and an infield single by Stuart Fairchild in the first, as the Phillies blanked them 7-0.

Despite not being very strong, Suárez managed to keep the Reds off balance the entire evening by striking out five and walking one. With very few strong swings against him, he finished his seven innings with accuracy in just 88 deliveries. The balls reached the gloves of Phillies outfielders when the Reds did connect, as they did in the seventh inning with Tyler Stephenson and Jeimer Candelario.

With 23 games played, the pitching staff of Suárez, Cristopher Sánchez, Spencer Turnbull, Zack Wheeler, and Aaron Nola is perhaps the best in baseball.

The Reds envision Andrew Abbott, Frankie Montas, Graham Ashcraft, Nick Lodolo, and Greene reproducing what the Phillies have done thus far in the first month of play.

The starting pitchers for Philadelphia have struck out 53 batters while giving up three earned runs in 51 2/3 innings (0.52 ERA) during the past seven games. The Phillies are off to their best start since 2018 (15–8) in large part because of that.

Reds manager David Bell stated, “I know they’re on quite a roll right now, too, and I know they’ve been really good at a [high] level through the postseason.” Of course, that’s something we should aim toward. We’re not evaluating ourselves against other people. We enjoy our current location. Every time we play, we’re working to improve. We really think we have the groundwork in place for a tremendously capable starting staff. I’ll always side with our guys, but on the other hand, I realize that their starting pitching has played a significant role in their success.

With 12 pitches, all strikes, and all fastballs, Greene retired the first three batters in the inning, demonstrating early evidence of the efficiency he’s going for.

After that, though, the Phillies did just enough to ruin his night, taking a 4-0 lead after five innings with a run in each of the following four innings.

David Bell talks Reds’ 7-0 loss to Phillies

“I thought I pitched well [and] did a lot better with attacking the zone,” Greene said. “I was better with [my] pitch count. So I was happy with that but I’ve got to do a better job with getting the first guy out. I think that’s what kind of threw [me] off those three or four innings. It’s tough when a guy hits a triple and [I’m] trying to get three outs with a dude on third. So just got to be able to stay in attack mode and try and get those early outs.”

Like he did against Milwaukee on April 10, Greene made the most of a losing effort on Monday, setting down the side in order in the sixth and seventh, requiring just 14 pitches in the sixth and eight in the seventh.

The outing in some ways mirrored that six-inning start against the Brewers, when he surrendered seven runs (six earned) on seven hits. That night he managed to save the bullpen on a night they needed it.

“I know Hunter wants to be perfect out there and not give up any runs,” Bell said. “I mentioned some things to build on, and that’s definitely one of them. Hunter wants to win games for us but you know he wants to do it in a way where he’s going deep into the game and being the guy out there. So really good.”

Monday night, the Reds were coming off back-to-back games in which the bullpen was taxed. Brent Suter went 3 1/3 innings on Sunday, Emilio Pagán pitched two and Nick Martinez moved to the rotation to take the place of the injured Frankie Montas.

“You’re constantly managing the pressure you put on yourself and pressure from outside,” Bell said of Greene. “I mean, it is a privilege as they say, but at the same time it’s not easy, especially for a young pitcher like Hunter who has high expectations for himself.

“It’s constant support for all of our players the best we can and I do believe Hunter is doing a great job of managing that himself. And he’s right on track. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing.”