Reds Beat: The Case For Hunter Greene Following In Ace Footsteps of No-Hit Author Blake Snell

CINCINNATI — The Reds believe Hunter Greene has the talent to match what Blake Snell finally accomplished Friday night right before their very eyes.

Snell hurled the first no-hitter of his career and the 18th in Giants franchise history as visiting San Francisco blanked the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 on Friday.

Snell has two Cy Youngs, a World Series appearance in 2020 and an overpower repertoire. Greene this season has matured this season. Already with a six-year, $53 million contract extension last season and his first All-Star appearance this year, Greene is blossoming this year.

No one in baseball had a better July than Greene. The right-hander went 2-0 with a 0.33 ERA in four starts, allowing just nine hits and one run over his last 27 innings. Despite allowing just one run in the four starts, Cincinnati managed to win just two of those four games.

On Saturday, Greene followed up Snell’s no-no from Friday with six scoreless innings, allowing just a Michael Conforto single through the hole on the right side in the fourth inning. That ran Greene’s remarkable scoreless innings streak to a career-best 21 innings. He struck out a season-high 11 as he gave the Reds bullpen a 6-0 cushion to work with as the Reds prevailed 6-4, improving Greene to 8-4 on the season.

On Friday, Snell, coming off a career-best 15-strikeout performance against the Colorado Rockies on July 27, was again overpowering, striking out 11 and working around three walks while getting a clutch line-drive double play.

After throwing seven no-hit innings last Sept. 19 against Colorado, Snell was taken out of the game with his pitch count at 104. Snell had never pitched into the ninth inning before Friday night. Snell, unaffected by a 60-minute weather delay to start the game, retired Elly De La Cruz on a fly to right to complete the no-hitter on 114 pitches.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Snell said. “I’ve always wanted to go nine. Just haven’t done it in the big leagues. For me, it feels really good.”

It was the 10th no-hitter since the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958, the first since Chris Heston stymied the New York Mets on June 9, 2015.

Snell entered the game 0-3 with a 5.10 ERA in 10 starts, having endured two stints on the injured list.

“I don’t get worried about it,” he said of his slow start to the year. “It’s more about fans, media, ‘Oh, he’s pitching bad. Oh, six starts, 9.00 ERA.’ I go through it every day, break it down, how do I get better and keep competing and attacking. I know it’s going to turn around.

“I didn’t know it was going to be what I did the last two games, but I knew I was going to get better and better and the consistency was going to come.”

Three times this year, Hunter Greene has taken no-hitters into the sixth inning. He’s been overpowering at times. He has the slider where Snell has the hammer curve. The tracks are very similar.

Snell has moved around more in his career – much more. Snell started as Tampa Bay’s ace in 2016 before being traded to San Diego in late 2020. Before this season, he was one of the final big ticket free agents to sign, agreeing to a two-year, $62 million deal with an opt-out after this season. Greene figures to be the cornerstone of the Cincinnati rotation for the foreseeable future.

Despite Cy Young awards in both leagues (Tampa Bay 2018, San Diego 2023), Snell has had to overcome the stigma that he couldn’t finish games and would pull himself out of games.

The abbreviated no-hit bid against the Rockies last year followed an infamous Snell outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the 2020 World Series. With Tampa Bay ahead 1-0, Snell allowed a one-out single in the sixth inning, just the Dodgers’ second hit of the night. Rays manager Kevin Cash then pulled Snell in favor of reliever Nick Anderson, who promptly squandered the lead.

The Dodgers went on to win the game 3-1, clinching the championship.

Snell said postgame Friday, “Now I have the complete game, the shutout, the no-hitter, so just leave me alone. I just pitch. It’s always been something else, something else, just let me pitch.”

While Greene hasn’t pulled himself out of any games, he has had the reputation of running up high pitch counts early in games.

“He had great stuff,” Reds manager David Bell said of Snell. “Did a great job reading us. He earned every out that he got tonight. He was able to go deep in the game. That’s what’s rare. He was able to get outs quick enough to be able to continue for one thing. When we were able to get on, he was able to bear down and get outs.”

Cincinnati was held without a hit for the 14th time in franchise history, with the last coming on May 7, 2019, in Oakland against the Athletics’ Mike Fiers.

It was the third no-hitter thrown in 2024, following gems by the Houston Astros’ Ronel Blanco vs. the Toronto Blue Jays on April 1 and the San Diego Padres’ Dylan Cease away against the Washington Nationals on July 25.

Snell walked two batters in the fifth, including Stephenson to open the inning. However, Jeimer Candelario lined out to Schmitt at second, who threw back to first base for the double play.

“You walk a guy and then Candy lines out and then I walk right after, so I think all things kind of have to go right for something like that to happen,” Reds center fielder TJ Friedl said.