Bullpen, defense save Reds win over Rays after Hunter Greene injury
The Cincinnati Reds’ best chance to beat the best team in baseball left the game on Monday with a left tibia contusion.
Reds ace Hunter Greene started against the 14-2 Tampa Bay Rays at Great American Ball Park, and through three innings he looked better than he had all year. He was locating his slider for strikes and getting big swings and misses. He leaned on his changeup more often. He got weak contact and put himself in position to pitch deep into the game.
Then in the top of the third inning, Greene took a comebacker off his shin and eventually left the game. The Reds bullpen had to cover six innings against a lineup that has looked unstoppable this season.
This time, a Reds bullpen that has struggled for most of the season was up to the task. Reds center fielder TJ Friedl added a bases-clearing three-run double to give the Reds an early four-run lead as the Reds beat the Rays, 8-1 in front of 7,375 fans at Great American Ball Park.
Friedl improved his batting average to .315 and showed why he has become a full-time starter with the Reds. With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, the Rays didn’t guard the third-base line and dared him to bunt. Friedl showed how much confidence he has in his ability to hit for power by ripping a double to right field.
Reds right fielder Jake Fraley saved the day in the sixth inning. Following an error by Reds second baseman Jonathan India, the Rays loaded the bases with two outs against reliever Ian Gibaut. Rays center fielder Manuel Margot hit a flare to very shallow right field, and Fraley made a head-first diving catch to end the inning.
Buck Farmer, Alex Young, Gibaut and Kevin Herget combined for six lockdown innings to pick up a taxed bullpen. The Reds didn’t allow a run until the ninth inning against the hottest offense in MLB.
Due to Greene’s injury, the Reds had a starter unable to complete more than three innings for the third time in four days. The Reds have needed most of their relievers to throw multiple innings during this stretch, and the group out of the bullpen on Monday stepped up with one of the bullpen’s best showings of the season.
Takeaways from Reds vs. Rays
1. Before he left the game, Greene delivered his most impressive sequence of the year. Greene took the ground ball off his leg with one out in the third inning and still completed the frame. For the second out, Greene threw his rarely used changeup and made one of his most impressive pitches of the year to get the strikeout on Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe. Greene then got Rays superstar left fielder Randy Arozarena to fly out to end the inning, but Greene didn’t return for the fourth.
2. Young was also saved by an impressive defensive play. When Young followed Farmer out of the bullpen in the middle of the fifth inning, Lowe hit a line drive to first base. Reds first baseman Wil Myers snagged the lineout and threw to second base for the inning-ending double play.
3. Reds designated hitter Kevin Newman hit two home runs last season. On Monday, he hit his second homer of the 2023 campaign. His home run snuck over the left field fence, landed in the first row of the stands and gave the Reds an early 1-0 lead.
Stat of the day
The expected batting average on Margot’s fly out to Fraley was .880, but Fraley made the improbable play to end the inning.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Bullpen, defense save Reds win over Rays after Hunter Greene injury
