ATLANTA – Cincinnati Reds rookie right-hander Hunter Greene felt a bit anxious before making his first MLB start. Even so, the hard-throwing phenom had no trouble settling down early.
“Honestly, it felt like just another game,” said Greene, who started last season in Class AA with the Chattanooga Lookouts but in mid-June was promoted to Triple-A Louisville. “It’s great to have that. Obviously you have butterflies, and I think that’s important. It means you care. It means you want to do well.”
With help at the plate from Kyle Farmer’s two-run single in a five-run third inning, Greene won his debut as the Reds beat the Atlanta Braves 6-3 on Sunday afternoon and split a four-game series at Truist Park to open the season.
Greene (1-0), the No. 2 overall selection in the 2017 draft, lived up to his billing as a top prospect with overpowering velocity as he regularly touched 100 mph on the radar gun, topped out at 102 in the fourth and was still hitting triple digits in his final inning. He allowed three runs, four hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in five innings.
“I felt great out there,” Greene said. “I felt like I was at home. A lot of people don’t look up, but I looked up as soon as I got out there. I wanted to take it all in and enjoy it, but I felt really comfortable out there. Really happy with today. The team did a great job behind me getting the lead early. Put me in a really good position to win and succeed today.”
The Reds took a 5-0 lead in the third. Jonathan India walked and scored from first when Tyler Naquin doubled to the right-field corner. Braves starter Ian Anderson (0-1) loaded the bases on a pair of walks, giving up two more runs on a forceout and Colin Moran’s single. Sean Newcomb then gave up a two-run single to Farmer.
Tyler Stephenson made it 6-1 in the fifth with a homer to left off Newcomb.
Greene, at 22 years, 247 days, became the youngest starting pitcher to make his debut for Cincinnati since Mike Leake received no decision on April 11, 2010, against the Chicago Cubs. Greene mixed in his changeup and slider to keep the Braves guessing.
“I was really happy (with the slider) today,” he said. “That was kind of a battle in spring training. It’s nice to find that, especially in the first game. I was like, I don’t have a choice. I need to find it. It was there. That was a nice feeling knowing that was in my back pocket. Just keeping those guys off balance, you know? Being able to slow the game down and just read swings helped a lot today.”
Greene is the Reds’ top prospect according to MLB Pipeline and No. 2 according to Baseball America. He missed the 2019 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, and the minor leagues were unable to have a 2020 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We pushed him a little bit in the fifth to get him through that fifth inning, but he was still throwing the ball well and I think he put forth effort, but not max effort, so he didn’t have to work too hard,” Reds manager David Bell said. “It was great for our bullpen. It set us up for the rest of the game.”
Greene reached 100 mph with 20 pitches, tied for eighth among starters in any game since pitch tracking started in 2008. He trailed only Jacob deGrom (33 and 28), Nathan Eovaldi (28), Yordano Ventura (26), Noah Syndergaard (24 and 21) and James Paxton (24), and Greene tied Sandy Alcántara.
AP photo by John Bazemore / Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson went 3-for-4 with a home run in Sunday’s 6-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.Matt Olson whiffed on a 100 mph fastball in the first for Greene’s first career strikeout, but Olson singled on a 102 mph fastball to begin the fourth for the Braves’ first hit. After Austin Riley doubled, Olson scored on Marcell Ozuna’s sacrifice fly to break up the shutout.
Travis d’Arnaud and Olson homered in the fifth off Greene to trim the lead to 6-3. It marked Olson’s first homer since he replaced Freddie Freeman as the Braves’ everyday first baseman after getting traded from the Oakland Athletics last month and signing a $168 million, eight-year contract.
Olson connected on a 101 mph offering, the second-fastest pitch any Braves player has homered off in the tracking era. Eddie Rosario homered off a 101.2 mph heater from Brusdar Graterol last Sept. 1.
Anderson, making his first start since pitching five hitless innings to win Game 3 of the World Series, allowed a career-high five runs, five walks and three hits in 2 2/3 innings.
“That’s where I feel like I am at, trying to get back to feeling comfortable in a big league game again,” the 23-year-old right-hander said. “As the season goes on, I’ll be fine and settle in, but for now I’m trying to get my feet back under me.”
Luis Cessa pitched 1 2/3 innings in relief, Tony Santillan got four outs and Art Warren worked the ninth for Cincinnati, earning the first save of his MLB career by facing the minimum.
Bell brought in Santillan, who earned his first career save Thursday, in the seventh to face Rosario with a runner on first and the Reds sitting on a three-run lead with Olson, who went 3-for-4, on deck. Rosario popped up to end the threat.
The Braves, who spent the weekend celebrating last season’s World Series championship, will continue their homestand Monday when they open a three-game series against the Washington Nationals. The Reds will play their home opener Tuesday as they open a two-game set against the Cleveland Guardians.
Reds left-hander Mike Minor, placed on the 10-day injured list this past week (left shoulder), will make a rehab start Wednesday for Chattanooga as the Lookouts host Birmingham.