Walks, HBP haunt Hunter Green and the Reds in 3-1 loss to Mariners

And, thusly, the Reds dropped the road series before Wednesday’s finale.

Hunter Greene threw plenty of strikes on Tuesday night in Seattle, but he struggled to put away hitters in an efficient enough manner to get deep into a game the Cincinnati Reds eventually lose 3-1. The Reds righthander eventually fanned 8 Mariners on the day, but a trio of walks, an untimely HBP, deep counts, and a lot of foul balls led to his exit after just 4.0 IP - a gluttonous 98 pitches needed to get just to that point.

That put a lot on the table for a Cincinnati bullpen that had already dealt with a short outing from Frankie Montas in the series. And while they battled their way to just 2 ER combined in their respective 4.0 IP, it wasn’t enough to lead the Reds to victory.

Greene’s lone ER came in the Bottom of the 3rd on a Jonatan Clase double, a double that came with 2-outs and Mitch Garver on 1B after Greene had hit him with a pitch. That’s a frustrating way of letting a free pass turn into a run, something that reliever Emilio Pagan replicated an inning later when he walked in a run after letting the bases get loaded on a trio of singles.

On the whole, Reds pitching issued 7 walks in just 8.0 IP, and they needed a combined 187 pitches to work their way through that number of innings. The lack of efficiency means that much more on the plate for Andrew Abbott in Wednesday’s series finale.

Notes

• Jeimer Candelario was a late scratch prior to this one with what the Reds called an ‘illness.’ Hopefully Candy, who homered in the series opener on Monday, is back in action later today.
• For all the words I spent on the foibles of the pitching staff, the offense sputtered tremendously, too. They mustered just 4 hits on the day (none of which were for extra bases), Jake Fraley was caught stealing, and Elly De La Cruz was thrown out trying to go 1B to 3B just in time for the runner in front of him to not be credited with a run. A brutally frustrating series of events on a day when chances were few and far between. Mariners starter Logan Gilbert (6.2 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 6 K on 90 pitches) was really effective on the night.
• Abbott will share the rubber with Bryce Miller in Wednesday’s series finale, with first pitch set for 4:10 PM ET.