For the second day in a row the Cincinnati Reds were shutout. And for the second game in a row the Texas Rangers scored one run to pull out the victory as their 1-0 win gave them the series victory at Great American Ball Park.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas Rangers (5-2) | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Cincinnati Reds (2-4) | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| W: Leiter (2-0) L: Greene (0-1) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Another pitching duel broke out in Cincinnati on Wednesday between the Reds and the Rangers. Hunter Greene didn’t give up a hit until the top of the 3rd inning when Marcus Semien singled with two outs. It was the next inning that Texas got through as Joc Pederson singled on a chopper the other way against the shift. That would turn out to be a big play because he would come around to score with two outs on a double by Josh Smith to the wall in left-center.
The Reds could get their first hit off of Jack Leiter in the bottom of the 4th inning when Elly De La Cruz doubled with two outs. He would follow up with a steal of third base, but a strikeout would end the threat and keep Cincinnati off of the board.
Hunter Greene would continue to cruise from that point forward, completing 7.0 innings of 1-run baseball while striking out eight batters. His offense continued to struggle against the Rangers bullpen that took over for Leiter in the 6th. The Reds would get their second hit of the day on a Jake Fraley single with two outs in the 8th inning. Jacob Hurtubise came off of the bench to pinch hit for Jose Trevino, but it was wasted as Fraley attempted to steal second base and left early, and Rangers pitcher Chris Martin turned around and threw to second base to get Fraley for the final out of the inning.
Emilio Pagan took care of Texas in the top of the 9th, retiring the side in order. TJ Friedl would pick up a 1-out single in the bottom of the frame, but he wouldn’t be able to advance any further than that as Luke Jackson shut things down to seal the 1-0 win for the Rangers and give his team a series victory.
Key Moment of the Game
Josh Smith’s 2-out double in the 4th inning that brought in the only run of the game.
Notes Worth Noting
Hunter Greene had eight strikeouts in the game. He now has 501 of them in his 400.0 career innings. He’s the fastest Cincinnati Reds pitcher to ever reach 500 strikeouts, besting Luis Castillo.
Greene averaged 100.0 MPH on his fastball on the day, throwing 59 fastballs during the game. 32 of those fastballs were at least 100.0 MPH and three of them topped 101.
The Reds walked four times in the first game of the series. They failed to walk in the final two games of the series.
The Reds starters in the series allowed two runs in 20.0 innings, allowed seven hits, and they struck out 21 batters.
No game in the series against Texas reached 15,000 fans in attendance.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Milwaukee Brewers
Thursday April 3rd, 7:40pm ET
Nick Lodolo (1-0) vs Nestor Cortes (0-1)
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