Greene's HR woes continue: 'It was the same story'

CINCINNATI -- It's become a painful recurring theme for Hunter Greene to be stung by home runs. Two more long balls got him on Monday vs. the Mets.

Francisco Lindor smoked a 3-2 100 mph fastball to right field for a solo homer that provided the go-ahead run in a 7-4 Reds loss at Great American Ball Park.

"It was the same story. It comes down to the one or two pitches that catch the plate," Reds catcher Aramis Garcia said. "They were able to capitalize on them. From a stuff standpoint he was pretty good. It was really one or two pitches that he could have had back."

Over 5 1/3 innings, Greene allowed six earned runs and seven hits with one walk, two hit batters and five strikeouts while throwing 99 pitches. In 16 starts, he is 3-10 with a 6.01 ERA. With the two more homers surrendered, he expanded his Major League lead to 22 over 79 1/3 innings this season.

It's the most allowed by a rookie pitcher before the All-Star break since at least 1947. The Reds' rookie record for homers allowed belongs to Rob Bell in 2000. Yusei Kikuchi, then of the Mariners, set the MLB record for rookies with 36 homers allowed.

"Walks or a guy gets on, two guys get on, it can be one pitch and you look up and it's 3-0. It's a challenge, but I'm willing to take that challenge and continue to work," Greene said.

Greene noted he felt less than optimal during the game and it was noticeable in the first two innings, where he showed lowered velocity. During a 20-pitch first inning, he allowed two hits, hit a batter and walked another but came away with a zero. He was less fortunate in the top of the second inning when Mark Canha was hit by a 3-2 pitch.

Following Tomás Nido's single, Brandon Nimmo scorched a first-pitch slider into the right-field seats for a three-run homer and 3-0 Mets lead.

"I felt like I was using a lot of my arm and not really my body in the previous two innings," Greene said. "It's definitely not a good feeling going in, knowing that you're not at 100 percent. But you've still got to go out there and like some of my previous starts before where I've voiced that, it's definitely not easy but you just have to go out there and compete."

Brandon Drury gave Greene and the Reds a fresh start in the third inning with a game-tying three-run homer to right field against Taijuan Walker. It's only July 4, but Drury set a new career high with 17 homers during what could be his first All-Star season.

After the Nimmo homer, Greene retired 10 batters in a row to keep the game even.

Opening the top of the fifth inning, Greene dueled with Nimmo in a tense 12-pitch at-bat. He fouled off seven of those pitches -- including three over 100 mph.

Greene won that battle when Nimmo flew out to right field.

"I got him on the slider twice earlier, and so I don't think he really wanted to go to it too badly, and obviously when you're throwing 100, you like your fastball," Nimmo said.

"He just kept challenging me, and kudos to him -- he was keeping them on the edge of the plate, too. He was doing a good job in that at-bat of battling himself."

Two batters later and one strike from a perfect inning, Greene lost the game on the Lindor homer.

"We were trying to go outside on Lindor, and it leaked middle and he got it," Greene said.

In the top of the sixth inning, Greene gave up Jeff McNeil's leadoff single and Canha's one-out double and was lifted from the game. Both runners scored on Dominic Smith's two-run double to center field against Reiver Sanmartin and were charged to Greene's line.

Cincinnati (27-52) has lost five of its last six games. Bell wasn't concerned with the homers piling up on Greene.

"He’s trying to get better in every way, trying to get outs," Bell said. "He’s got a lot of [home runs] this year. He’s going to give up runs. How they come -- it’s more limiting the hard-hit balls whatever they are. … When he executes his pitches, when he’s at his best, he’s as good as anyone in the game. He’s going to have to keep working through things, keep finding ways to get better."