ARLINGTON, Texas — Hard-throwing Reds right-hander Hunter Greene held the Texas Rangers to one hit over seven scoreless innings and Jonathan India homered while driving in four runs on a four-hit day as Cincinnati beat the reigning World Series champions 8-4 on Saturday.
Greene (1-2) struck out six and walked one while throwing 63 of his 98 pitches for strikes while relying mainly on his fastball and a few sliders.
“Just trusting myself being able to attack the zone,” Greene said. “When you attack the zone, great things happen.”
The last Reds starter with a scoreless start of at least seven innings and six strikeouts, and one or no hits, plus one or no walks was Greene in June 2022. The right-hander at 24 years and 265 days old became only sixth major league pitcher with that kind of line twice by that young age, according to Stathead.
“He’s going deep into the game. ... That is important, but he's pitching really well and he's making improvements,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Really was on the attack the whole day, so was able to accomplish both, going deep into the game and limiting runs. That's a great start.”
Brent Suter relieved him with a perfect eighth before allowing six hits in the ninth, including back-to-back homers by rookie Davis Wendzel and Corey Seager. Alexis Díaz got the last two outs for his sixth save in seven chances.
“It’s always good to show life when things weren’t looking so good for eight innings,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s just tough sledding. We faced a guy with a really good fastball and he used it well. ... We just couldn't do much with him. He was on top of his game.”
India already had a pair of RBI singles before his two-run homer in the seventh for his first of the season. That doubled his season RBI total from four to eight, put the Reds up 5-0 and chased Texas starter Michael Lorenzen (2-1).
Will Benson also had a two-run homer for the Reds, who have won six of their last nine games.
Josh Smith had the only Texas hit off Greene when he pulled a double into the right-field corner to open the fifth and extended his on-base streak to 15 games. He got stranded at third base when shortstop Elly De La Cruz made a slick backhanded stop of a short-hopper and was falling away from first base when threw out speedy Travis Jankowski by a step to end the inning.
“One of the best plays I’ve seen all year, and he made it look relatively easy,” Bell said.
Lorenzen struck out three, walked one and allowed five runs on six hits against his original team. The right-hander was the 38th overall pick by the Reds in the 2013 draft and pitched in 295 games for them from 2015-21.
SHORT HOPS
Benson’s homer later in the seventh off José Ureña, ending the streak of 16 consecutive scoreless innings by Rangers relievers since last Sunday. ... Seager's second homer of the season came on his 30th birthday. It was only his second hit in his last 24 at-bats. ... Wendzel's second big league hit was his first homer.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Reds: C Tyler Stephenson was hit on the right hand by a pitch to open the seventh inning. He initially stayed in the game and scored on India's homer, but was replaced behind the plate in the bottom of the inning. Bell said he should be OK.
UP NEXT
Andrew Abbott (1-2, 2.60 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for the Reds in the series finale Sunday. Abbott has allowed only four runs over 17 1/3 innings his last three starts. Rangers right-hander Dane Dunning (2-2, 4.61) has given up homers in all five of his starts.
