Reds unable to capitalize on opportunities, Greene's 8-K effort

SEATTLE -- Opportunity knocked several times on Tuesday night, and the Reds simply couldn’t answer the call.

In two separate innings, Cincinnati had a chance to chip away at the Mariners' two-run lead and change the narrative of the series. But both times, the Reds couldn’t put the finishing touch on a potential rally as Cincinnati fell to Seattle 3-1 at T-Mobile Park.

After being subjected to 6 2/3 innings of dominant pitching from Mariners starter Logan Gilbert (1-0), the Reds gave the Seattle crowd a scare in the seventh. Gilbert got the first two outs in the inning, but then walked Jake Fraley and was pulled from the game.

Hard-throwing righty Andrés Muñoz came in and walked Elly De La Cruz to put two runners aboard. Pinch-hitter Nick Martini then lined a single into center field. Fraley headed for home, while De La Cruz tried to take third.

With Fraley and De La Cruz hustling, Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez uncorked a throw to Josh Rojas at third base, who tagged De La Cruz for the final out of the inning just before Fraley crossed the plate, and the Reds came away empty-handed.

In the ninth, the Reds drove Mariners closer Ryne Stanek from the game by loading the bases when Will Benson and De La Cruz walked, then Fraley reached on a fielding error. Cincinnati had all 17,291 fans waiting with bated breath, but the Reds came up short again, when Mariners lefty Tayler Saucedo got Tyler Stephenson to fly out to end the game.

Rather than lament any missed opportunities, Reds manager David Bell was proud of how the team managed to battle its way to the final at-bat in a game where Gilbert shut down the Reds offense, allowing three hits and just one earned run over 6 2/3 innings.

Gilbert gave up a single in the second and two more in the fifth, but kept the Reds off the bases for most of the game. The Reds' lone run came in the fifth, when Fraley reached base on a fielder’s choice and scored on a groundout by Stuart Fairchild.

“I see the fight to create opportunities,” Bell said. “You know, as long as they’re competing and grinding out at-bats and fighting with everything they have, if you don’t get the job done it’s not always a failure. It’s like ‘hey, we created the opportunity and gave ourselves a chance.’ Those were really tough at-bats against really tough pitchers.”

Reds starter Hunter Greene was effective in his short outing, departing after four innings with four hits and one earned run allowed and eight strikeouts.

Greene got out of a bases-loaded jam in the third inning, and then gave up an RBI double to rookie Jonatan Clase in the fourth.

“The slider obviously wasn’t great today,” Greene said. “Usually that’s a pitch where I can get back in the count and put guys away. I got some swing and miss but not enough to obviously be effective. [I’ve] got to be better for the bullpen.”

The game was Greene’s 50th career start, and with 346 career whiffs, Greene has the most strikeouts of any Reds pitcher through their first 50 starts since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893.

“He had good stuff, just too many foul balls,” Bell said. “A lot of pitches for four innings, if it wasn’t for that, it could’ve been a different night for Hunter. But yeah, we came up short in the end.”

The Mariners took the lead back in the fifth when Reds reliever Emilio Pagan (1-1) walked Mitch Garver with the bases loaded. Haniger made it a 3-1 game in the sixth with an RBI single off Reds pitcher Fernando Cruz.

Looking back at the seventh, Bell simply marveled at the defense of Rodríguez. Earlier in the inning, the Mariners' young superstar made a leaping catch over his head on a deep fly ball from Spencer Steer before cutting down De La Cruz at third to snuff out the burgeoning Reds rally.

“That’s why Rodríguez is one of the best players in the game,” Bell said. “He was a little bit on his heels, and in some ways we thought it was an ill-advised throw, to be honest, because [De La Cruz] is just so fast. For him to be able to throw Elly out there was a bit of a surprise to us.”