LOS ANGELES — Hunter Greene has announced his presence with authority.
The flame-throwing phenom from Sherman Oaks Notre Dame made his second major-league start Saturday night for the Cincinnati Reds, pitching into the sixth inning at Dodger Stadium.
In his first two starts, the 22-year-old Greene has thrown 172 pitches over 10 1/3 innings. Of those, 113 have been fastballs — 59 of those have registered 100 mph or more, topping out at 101.7 mph. His 39 pitches at 100 mph or higher in Saturday’s game are a record since pitch-tracking began in 2008.
Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene throws to the plate during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Saturday, April 16, 2022, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
But, major-league hitters could time a bullet if given enough chances and Trea Turner did. He turned on a 99-mph fastball from Greene in the sixth inning, sending it into the left-field pavilion for a two-run home run. The Dodgers piled on after Greene left the scene, scoring four runs in the inning and beating the Reds 5-2 for their fifth consecutive win.
By comparison, it was a slow-speed chase for Reds hitters against Dodgers starter Julio Urias — and less successful. Urias didn’t allow a hit until Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson scorched a one-hopper through second baseman Max Muncy and into center field with one out in the fifth inning.
It was a significant improvement over Urias’ first start of the season Sunday in Colorado when he didn’t retire a batter in the third inning, didn’t strike out any at all and showed decreased velocity on his fastball (an average of 91.4 mph) — a concern after he also showed less life on his fastball during the shortened spring training.
After some work with the pitching coaches between starts, Urias pitched five scoreless innings, striking out five. His fastball velocity began to tick back up towards his career average (94 mph), coming in at 92.3 mph over the 65-pitch outing.
The relief relay of Evan Phillips, David Price, Mitch White and Daniel Hudson combined to allow just three hits and kept the shutout intact until the ninth inning.
So in Austin Barnes’ last two starts — the near-perfect game started by Clayton Kershaw and Saturday’s shutout — Dodgers pitchers have allowed just four hits and two runs over 18 innings.
It was even Barnes who started the go-ahead rally in the bottom of the sixth, lining a single into right field.
Greene began to slow down in the inning. Only one of his 100-mph heaters came in his last 14 pitches. His 1-and-1 fastball to Turner was still a robust 99 mph. But it was over the heart of the plate and Turner sent it 381 feet into the left-field pavilion. It was one of three hits in the game for Turner who extended his hitting streak to 27 games.
Greene struck out Freddie Freeman (his sixth strikeout of the game) but the ball got away from Stephenson, allowing Freeman to reach base. After Justin Turner popped out, Reds manager David Bell pulled Greene from the game.
Edwin Rios kept the inning going with a two-out single. After a wild pitch advanced the runners, Chris Taylor drove in two with a single to right.
The four-run inning was the seventh time in the first eight games of the season that the Dodgers’ offense had scored three or more runs in an inning.
They added an insurance run in the seventh when Gavin Lux drew a leadoff walk, went to third on another Trea Turner single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Freeman.
The Dodgers have outscored their opponents 31-8 during their winning streak.