Phillies shut down by Hunter Greene, drop series to Reds

Locked in a pitchers duel with Hunter Greene, Cristopher Sánchez needed one more out in the sixth inning to keep the Phillies in the game. That’s when everything spiraled.

The Cincinnati Reds (64-58) scored seven runs over the next two innings to roll to a 8-0 win over the Phillies (69-51) on Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park.

Already up 1-0, former Phillie Austin Hays started the two-out rally in the sixth for the Reds, his double scoring a speedy Elly De La Cruz from first. Noelvi Marte followed Hays up with his second RBI base hit of the game. Brandon Marsh had an opportunity to gun down Hays at the plate but his throw was too high, earning himself an error on the play. Sánchez compounded the error by sailing a throw into the outfield when Marte attempted to advance to third base. Marte himself scored and the Phillies were suddenly in a four-run hole.

Miguel Andujar blew the game wide open in the seventh inning, slugging a grand slam to left field off of Jordan Romano and increasing the Reds’ lead to 8-0. After allowing just two runs in his last 7 ⅔ innings, Romano’s ERA spiked to 7.24 in yet another disastrous outing. It also marked the eighth time Romano has given up multiple runs in an appearance.

Philadelphia’s offense was unable to provide any run support for Sánchez, largely because of Greene. The 23-year-old made his first start since early June and dominated the Phillies lineup, allowing just three hits and no runs in six innings while striking out six batters and flashing his 100 mph fastball. 

Before the brutal sixth inning, Sánchez had been holding his own against Greene. The lefty used a nasty changeup to record four of his six strikeouts through his first five innings and let up just one run off a Marte double. His inning-ending strikeout of Tyler Stephenson made it his 154th punch-out of the season, eclipsing his previous record for strikeouts in a season that he set last year. 

The loss to the Reds marked the first series loss for the club since the end of July, snapping a three-series win streak. Despite dropping the series to Cincinnati, the Phillies still hold a 4.5 game lead over the second-place Mets for the National League East title and maintain a half-game lead over the Padres for a bye in the NL playoffs. 

Up next, the Phillies will travel to the nation’s capital to face the Washington Nationals in a four-game series. The first game of that series will be played on Thursday and first pitch is scheduled for 6:45 p.m.