PITTSBURGH -- Hunter Greene may only be in his second season as a big leaguer, but he has already endured this type of scenario at PNC Park -- multiple times.

The starting pitcher on Sunday vs. the Pirates, Greene delivered his best start of the young season only to be unrewarded during a 2-0 loss as the Reds were swept in the four-game series and extended their losing streak to six games.

“I felt great. The ball came out well," Greene said. "I felt like all my pitches were working. It was nice to get some early contact kind of later on in the game -- popups and ground balls. Everything felt good.”

Over six innings, Greene allowed one earned run, four hits and two walks with six strikeouts. His club, which has scored six runs during its losing streak, was held scoreless for the third time in that span.

"It definitely sucks because we’re not helping," Reds second baseman Jonathan India said of not supporting good pitching. "We’re not doing anything right. That’s just baseball. We can’t give up. We can’t look at this and get down on ourselves now. It’s still early in the year. We just got to fight and get back to our game."

If this feels familiar, it should. Last season on May 15, Greene pitched 7 1/3 hitless innings with five walks but lost, 1-0. On Sept. 27, he struck out 10 and gave up one unearned run over six innings while Cincinnati took a 4-1 loss.

This time around, Greene was again collateral damage amid struggles by the Reds' offense.

“It is frustrating for everybody, but there’s a lot of games in the season," Greene said. "I know a lot of us are working extremely hard the days in-between -- whether it’s at the plate or on the mound, defense, whatever it is.

“I like pitching here. I love the mound here. I just feel really good on the mound. I feel like I’m able to put myself in a good position, mechanically, every pitch.”

In the bottom of the first inning, Ke'Bryan Hayes hit Greene's first-pitch fastball for a double to center field, Tucupita Marcano singled to left field and then Hayes scored when Andrew McCutchen hit into a double play for a quick 1-0 lead. Greene struck out Carlos Santana with a slider to escape any further damage.

Pittsburgh mustered two more singles and two walks off Greene the rest of his day.

"It’s a great start," Reds manager David Bell said. "If you throw away the very first pitch of the game, it could have been a shutout. Outstanding after that."

According to Statcast tracking of his 96 pitches, Greene took a diversified approach with his pitch selection. He threw 48 fastballs, 37 sliders and a season-high 11 changeups -- the pitch he has worked on most since the offseason.

"Being able to implement that pitch is super important early and especially the rest of the season," Greene said.

It wasn't just mixing pitches, Greene located well. He challenged hitters with his fastball that often elevated at the top of the strike zone. Of the 51 swings overall, he got 18 whiffs.

"I think it’s all kind of set up recently by his slider command and being able to kind of fill up the zone with more than just his fastball," catcher Luke Maile said. "There’s a presence about him on the mound right now that I feel like gets better every single time I’ve had him. I think he really believes in his stuff, and he should because it’s obviously really good.”

Through five starts, Greene is 0-1 with a 3.52 ERA and 1.39 WHIP. Through 23 innings, he's walked eight and struck out 30 batters.

"Really going into the sixth, he was as good as he had been the whole game," Bell said. "His pitch count got up a bit too high. Other than that, it was a really strong finish."

It's been quite a week for Greene. In his previous start on Monday vs. the Rays, he was forced to exit after three scoreless innings. A comebacker hit his right leg and caused a tibia contusion. Relieved it wasn't worse, the Reds gave him one extra day of rest.

On Tuesday, Greene and the club finalized a six-year, $53 million contract extension. All of that was on the backburner while pitching and gaining momentum.

“I think just the mindset, that really helps me to stay present," Greene said. "When I stay present, the results are usually pretty good.”