CINCINNATI -- Had his All-Star season not been interrupted for nearly six weeks by an elbow injury, Hunter Greene might have posted some even loftier numbers and challenged for some National League Cy Young Award votes.

Of course, we'll never know for sure, but Greene's return on Sunday during a 2-0 loss to the Pirates at Great American Ball Park showed why he's become an elite starter this year.

“It felt great. I felt like my stuff was pretty sharp. I was happy," Greene said.

Because Greene did not get a Minor League rehab assignment, the Reds were cautious with his workload vs. Pittsburgh. He pitched three innings and gave up one earned run, two hits and one walk with four strikeouts while throwing 45 pitches, including 29 for strikes.

“It was exactly what we wanted," Reds manager David Bell said. "We didn’t want to push him today. He came out with a real good slider early on, showed a good fastball."

Over his last nine starts, Greene has a 1.17 ERA with 15 walks and 63 strikeouts in 53 2/3 innings.

Facing his first batter since Aug. 13, Greene struck out Nick Gonzales on three pitches -- opening with a fastball for a called strike followed by back-to-back sliders that got whiffs.

“Being able to go out there and play the game that I love and do it with my teammates, to be back out there with those guys ... It’s tough being in the clubhouse on a day-to-day basis," Greene said. "I’m still getting my work in but not being out there physically on the field with those guys was tough. To be able to come back out and feel great today was really cool.”

Unfortunately for Greene, the next batter, Oneil Cruz, slugged a 2-1 fastball into the smokestacks in right-center field for a solo home run. That was enough to give him his first loss since June 30 at St. Louis, which was also a shutout defeat by a 2-0 score.

Joey Bart followed Cruz with a single to right field, but Greene retired eight of his last nine batters.

Greene had no issue with not going any further in the game.

“I was pretty locked in with the process we had going, with the pitch count that we had and keeping a good perspective on things," he said.

Overall this season, Greene is 9-5 with a 2.83 ERA. His 25 starts, 146 1/3 innings and 166 strikeouts are all career highs. He became a first-time All-Star this year as well.

Greene reported right elbow soreness from playing catch in the days following an Aug. 13 start vs. the Cardinals. After getting three medical opinions that showed inflammation but no structural damage, Greene was shut down to recover fully.

Although Cincinnati is already eliminated from postseason play, Greene still wanted to come back. He will likely get one more start -- vs. the Cubs in Chicago on a day next weekend to be determined -- to end the year.

“I felt like I owed it to myself, I owed it to the team," Greene said. "I felt like it was important to send a good message to the younger guys coming up. I was one of those younger guys that was constantly looking to the rotation in the big leagues and looking for inspiration, motivation, ways to get better.

“I think it’s important to send that message: ‘This is our job.’ If you can come back, I think there’s a lot of value in it.”

The club also saw value in Greene finishing the season.

"It was possible by the way he worked," Bell said. "He made himself available to the team to come back. So there’s really no choice there. He got it done and he was ready to go.”

The Reds were again unable to muster much offensively against Pirates starter Paul Skenes, an NL Rookie of the Year contender. He gave up two hits over five innings with no walks and nine strikeouts. In three starts this season vs. the Reds, Skenes is 3-0 with a 0.53 ERA, two walks and 25 strikeouts.

Cincinnati was shut out for the 14th time this season, which is tied for sixth-most in the Major Leagues. At 76-81 with five games remaining, the club can not finish with a winning season and must go undefeated in the remaining games to finish with a .500 record.