Cincinnati had no shortage of runs during their first two games this series against Arizona. The Reds routed the Diamondbacks 7-0 on Monday in a seven-inning, rain-shortened game then outslugged the D-backs 14-8 on Tuesday. But it was the starting pitching by two Cincy rookies which has turned heads.
Hunter Greene and Graham Ashcraft combined to retire 30 consecutive Arizona hitters. No pair of Reds pitchers has retired 30-plus straight hitters since Tom Seaver and Paul Moskau sat down 35-in-a-row on June 9-10, 1979.
The 7-0 win Monday at GABP snapped a three-game losing streak for the Reds. Greene had a fantastic outing with eight strikeouts, no walks and one hit allowed over seven shutout innings. The only hit was a bunt single by the first batter Greene faced.
The Redlegs Brandon Drury went deep on a solo, first-inning dinger. Tyler Stephenson and Kyle Farmer both singled and doubled with two RBI.
In Tuesday’s 14-8 victory, Cincinnati was up 9-0 when play was stopped by rain after seven innings.
When action resumed a little over an hour later, one would have thought the two teams just would have mopped up and called it a night. But over the final inning and a half, Cincy and Arizona combined for 13 runs on 12 hits. The D-Backs outscored the Reds 8-5 over that stretch, but the good guys still won by six.
Ashcraft had another stellar outing, pitching six innings of no-run, three-hit baseball with four strikeouts and no walks. He is now 3-0 with an ERA of 1.14 in four starts.
Offensive support came in the way of 16 hits. Seven different Reds had two hits and five players went deep. Joey Votto, Brandon Drury, Matt Reynolds, Tommy Pham and Tyler Stephenson all homered.
Cincinnati takes on Arizona Wednesday at 6:40 pm. We’ll have the action on WRBI starting at 6:10 pm. Then the Reds and Diamondbacks wrap up the series Thursday at 12:35 pm. We’ll join the coverage right after our 12 pm news block.