The Cincinnati Reds completed a baseball rarity Sunday by losing despite conceding no hits.
Hunter Greene, a rookie right-hander, had struck out nine batters through seven innings without allowing successful. His counterpart, the Pirates’ veteran left-hander José Quintana, nearly matched him, allowing only three hits and one walk in seven innings before turning the sport over to the Pittsburgh bullpen.
Though Greene’s pitch count had surpassed 100, Reds Manager David Bell allowed him to start the underside of the eighth inning in pursuit of a no-hitter in Pittsburgh. Greene induced a groundout, but then issued walks to Rodolfo Castro and Michael Perez. After seven and one-third innings, five walks and 118 pitches, Greene was finally pulled.
The fitting-hander Art Warren walked one other batter to load the bases, and Ke’Bryan Hayes grounded right into a fielders’ alternative to drive in the sport’s only run and hand Greene a hard-luck loss. It was only the sixth time in baseball’s modern era that a team lost without yielding successful, and the primary time it had happened since 2008.
Unfortunately for Greene, Warren and the Reds, Sunday’s feat is not going to be recorded as a no-hitter. In 1991, Major League Baseball modified the definition of a no-hitter, requiring that a team finish at the very least nine innings in a whole game, thus wiping out each of the no-hit losses, in addition to several that were shortened by rain. By the identical rule, a Madison Bumgarner start in 2021, by which he allowed no hits in a complete-game win, was not recorded as a no-hitter since it got here in a seven-inning game as a part of M.L.B.’s doubleheader rules that season.
Sunday’s defeat was the newest for Cincinnati (9-26), which is greater than 10 games out of first place within the National League Central. The Reds’ 3-19 start with a minus-65 run differential was worse than each the 2003 Tigers, who finished with 119 losses, and the 1962 Mets, who lost 120, though they’ve been more competitive of late with six wins of their past 10 games.
Still, the outing needed to be encouraging for the Reds and Greene, who had a 7.62 E.R.A. and allowed 11 home runs in 26 innings entering Sunday’s game. But it should surely include some criticism as the entire of 118 pitches is essentially the most a pitcher has been allowed to throw this season, which stands in sharp contrast to how other teams have handled pitchers. The Dodgers, notably, pulled Clayton Kershaw after seven perfect innings since the veteran left-hander had thrown 80 pitches on a chilly afternoon in Minnesota and so they have designs on a deep postseason run.
The Reds chosen Greene with the second overall pick within the 2017 draft, one spot behind Royce Lewis, the shortstop who made his debut for the Twins this month. With a fastball that may touch triple digits and robust hitting skills at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, Calif., Greene graced the quilt of a difficulty of Sports Illustrated, billed as “the star baseball needs.” He had some evaluators pondering he may very well be a two-way player as an expert.
Greene hit some within the low levels of the minors but eventually gave it up, eschewing the paths taken by Shohei Ohtani and Michael Lorenzen. After having Tommy John surgery in 2019 and the cancellation of the minor league season in 2020 due to pandemic, Greene had a 3.30 E.R.A. across Class AA and AAA last 12 months. And he ranks as considered one of the highest 25 prospects, in accordance with MLB.com.
After a record-setting 12 months of no-hitters in 2021, there have been two official ones this season, a combined effort by the Mets’ staff and a two-strikeout outing by the Angels rookie left-hander Reid Detmers in a blowout of the Tampa Bay Rays.
