Greene (7 scoreless) twirls gem, but 'pen falters in his wake

CINCINNATI -- For seven innings, all was well with Hunter Greene and the Reds on a sunny and pleasant day at Great American Ball Park.

The same could be said for Tyler Stephenson, who atoned for Friday night’s missed chance with a two-run double that gave the Reds a 2-0 lead into the eighth.

If only baseball was a seven-inning game.

The Cincinnati bullpen had a rare breakdown and the Tigers scored five runs in the eighth to post a 5-3 win, leaving the Reds' faithful sick to their stomachs.

The normally solid Fernando Cruz (3-6) was tagged for three runs in the inning and took the loss. It took one bad bullpen inning to overshadow one of the best outings of the season from Greene.

The seven innings matched a season high for Greene, who allowed just three singles and walked two while striking out seven on 104 pitches.

Greene has recorded at least five strikeouts in all 18 starts this season, a franchise record, surpassing Mario Soto in 1982.

“It's awesome,” Greene said. “One of our guys inside mentioned it to me right after I came out of the game, that it was the 18th game or something like that. It's great when you can hit accolades like that because the game is extremely difficult. So that's exciting to hear, but I gotta keep going and keep my foot on the pedal.”

Manager David Bell considered sending Greene out for the eighth, but with the bullpen performing at the level it has, Bell thought it would be best to save Greene.

“He’s worked really hard this year, and we want to keep him going,” Bell said. “So, kind of think of it as maybe taking him to 125 or so pitches, and with where we were with our bullpen, too, at the time felt like the right decision.”

Detroit manager A.J. Hinch also thought it was the right decision.

“Well, Greene was out, thank God,” Hinch said. “I don’t know what his best is, but he was really good. Threw a lot of secondary pitches, too. We had a really hard time with him.”

Greene, who suffered vomiting spells in consecutive starts against the Pirates on June 19 and 25, made an adjustment, according to Bell. On Saturday in the bullpen, Greene admitted to feeling off mechanically, but his stomach issues are a thing of the past.

“It's funny, I felt a little wonky in the bullpen. My arm felt great. My body was just a little weird, which you can't really read into,” Greene said. “You can go out there and have a fantastic day and a terrible bullpen. But you try and calibrate those things before going out there.”

Jonathan India extended his on-base streak to 17 games with a double in the eighth while Spencer Steer belted his 13th homer in the ninth, his third consecutive game with a home run.

Like he did Friday, Noelvi Marte kept the Reds alive with a two-out bloop single in the ninth. But as was the case Friday night, pinch-hitter Santiago Espinal was the final out of the game when he struck out against Andrew Chafin.

Stephenson, who grounded into a fielder’s choice in the ninth Friday with pinch-runner Blake Dunn at third, doubled off reliever Beau Brieske to score Spencer Steer and Nick Martini, who both walked to start the fifth.

Greene allowed only singles to Colt Keith, Gio Urshela and Parker Meadows while getting terrific defense from India.

India started an inning-ending double play in the sixth and made a slick backhanded stab of a Riley Greene grounder up the middle in the seventh before firing onto first for the out.

After recording the first out of the eighth, Cruz allowed a Meadows double, a two-run pinch-hit homer to Wenceel Pérez and a walk to Matt Vierling.

“It wasn't his day. The split wasn't what he typically has out there and then that was basically the game right there,” Bell said.

Sam Moll walked pinch-hitter Andy Ibáñez before Mark Canha cued a run-scoring double down the right-field line to put Detroit up, 3-2.

Cruz, who allowed just five runs over his previous 21 appearances, was charged with three runs and recorded just one out.

“We love being in that spot after what Hunter gave to us all day,” Bell said. “He was outstanding, of course. We had a rested bullpen with all of our guys who typically close it out. Give the Tigers credit. They were laying off Fernando’s split.”