Cubs starter Justin Steele had a bad day Friday. But Cubs hitters had an even worse one.
Steele allowed six runs and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings in a rare poor outing. But even prime Steele might not have mattered, because the Cubs were held to no hits through six innings by Reds starter Hunter Greene and needed Christopher Morel’s single off reliever Eduardo Salazar leading off the eighth to avoid being no-hit n a 7-0 loss before 31,946 fans at Wrigley Field.
Greene struck out 11 batters, including Dansby. Swanson and Trey Mancini twice. He was pulled after throwing 110 pitches through six innings. Salazar retired the Cubs 1-2-3 in the seventh inning. But Morel singled sharply to center to break up the no-hitter. Miles Mastrobuoni singled one batter later. But Tucker Barnhart lined out to second and Nico Hoerner bounced out to third to end the threat.
Reds reliever Fernando Cruz pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to complete the shutout. The Cubs were out-hit 19-2 and struck out 12 times.
It was a day of mystifying performances. Greene, the second overall pick of the 2017 draft, came into the game 0-4 with a 4.68 ERA this season. He had allowed 26 hits and 17 runs in 22 innings (6.95 ERA) in his previous four starts. But he looked like Bob Gibson on Friday.
The Cubs (22-28) didn’t even have anything close to a hit against Greene. Mike Tauchman walked with two outs in the first inning. Ian Happ walked with two outs in the fourth inning.
As uncharacteristically good as Greene was, Steele was uncharacteristically bad. Steele came in with a 6-1 record, a 2.20 ERA and 8-of-10 quality starts this season. But after Matt McLain reached on an infield season — despite a dazzling stop by third baseman Mastrobuoni — Spencer Steer tripled sharply to right field to give the Reds a 1-0 lead. Tyler Stephenson followed with a sharp single to left to score Steer and give the Reds a 2-0 lead.
Steele pitched a scoreless second inning and retired the first two batters in the third. But just when it appeared he was settling in, he lost it again. Stephenson doubled to right field and scored on Nick Senzel’s single to give the Reds a 3-0 lead.
Steele gave up three more runs on four more hits in the fourth inning. One of the runs was unearned, but only because of Steele’s error, when he dropped a throw from first baseman Matt Mervis on Curt Casall’s sacrifice bunt. It was that kind of day for Steele — and the Cubs.