I don’t usually put photos of Cubs opponents as the lead image for game recaps but in this case… Reds starter Hunter Greene was clearly the story of the game. He allowed just three hits and struck out 12, and the Reds shut out the Cubs 4-0 in the first of a three-game series. It was the first Reds win over the Cubs this year, after the Cubs swept a four-game set at Wrigley Field in May.
Seiya Suzuki had two of the three hits, including a second-inning double. Ian Happ had the other hit off Greene,
a single leading off the fifth, and Greene also walked Happ, his only walk of the game. That’s it for Cubs runners reaching off Greene.
Shōta Imanaga threw reasonably well for five innings, allowing just one run, a fifth-inning homer by Elly De La Cruz. Imanaga ran a lot of long counts and also allowed seven hits. It wasn’t a bad outing, but you can’t win if you don’t score runs.
More on Imanaga’s evening from BCB’s JohnW53:
Imanaga’s start was the Cubs’ 207th since 1901 of exactly five innings with one run allowed. It was just the seventh of the 207 with exactly seven hits allowed.
Ben Brown had the sixth, on June 13 at San Francisco. The first five were by Wilbur Cooper in 1925, Joe Niekro in 1967, Randy Martz in 1982, Mike Harkey in 1990 and Jon Lester on April 2, 2017, at St. Louis.
Imanaga tied Lester for the most strikeouts, seven. Imanaga and Martz walked one. Harkey walked none.
Imanaga was the first to serve up a homer for the run.
And a bit more on Shōta’s evening [VIDEO].
One thing I wanted to note about the 12 strikeouts: Four of them were swinging K’s on sliders or splitters way out of the strike zone.
Michael Conforto, in the second:
Pete Crow-Armstrong, in the sixth:
Alex Bregman, also in the sixth:
Conforto again, in the seventh:
As you can see, some of those pitches were so far out of the zone that they barely show up on the Gameday images. Greene had Cubs hitters utterly fooled. It’s far from the first time; the last time Greene pitched against the Cubs, Sept. 18, 2025 at GABP, he threw a complete-game shutout, allowing just one hit (a single by Suzuki) and striking out nine. At least now, the Cubs don’t have to face Greene again until September.
Trent Thornton kept the game at 1-0 by throwing a 1-2-3 seventh on only seven pitches.
Then we witnessed the Cubs debut of Jake Woodford. Of that two-inning appearance, all that can be said in a positive vein is that he saved all the leverage relievers for the rest of the series. Woodford struck out the first hitter he faced, Ke’Bryan Hayes. Then De La Cruz tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly. At 2-0 maybe this game is still within reach but the next four hitters off Woodford did this: single, two-run homer, single, single and at this point the game’s pretty much over. Woodford threw 43 pitches and the next time we see his name in connection with the Cubs is likely going to be when he’s designated for assignment after the All-Star break.
It was mentioned near the end of the broadcast on Marquee that this was the first time the Reds had ever shut out the Cubs and struck out 15. After that comment was made, the Reds made it 16 when Ian Happ struck out to end the game. The previous record wasn’t 14, either — it was 13, and it had stood for nearly 63 years, since Jim Maloney (who would no-hit the Cubs two years later!) threw a one-hit shutout at Wrigley Field, striking out 13 on July 23, 1963.
One more note on Greene’s 12 strikeouts, from John:
Hunter Greene’s 12 strikeouts were the most by a starter against the Cubs this season, one more than by Kyle Harrison of the Brewers at Wrigley Field on May 20. Each pitched 7.0 innings and walked one. Harrison gave up two hits, one less than Greene.
You’ll notice there are no video highlights up to this point. That’s because there weren’t any from a Cubs standpoint. I did want to show you this one weird play from the bottom of the fifth. JJ Bleday lifted a foul fly to right that Seiya Suzuki appeared to catch, but it was … well, watch [VIDEO].
That clip is from the Reds broadcast, in which they said Suzuki “didn’t catch it,” but you can see Suzuki wondering why it wasn’t called a catch. After more than four minutes of deliberation, the review crew said the call on the field was “overturned” — but what was the call on the field? It wasn’t clear, though it appears to have been “foul ball” because of fan interference. But if it’s fan interference, shouldn’t it have been an out?
Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments, including remarks on the Suzuki play [VIDEO].
One thing that’s been really good on this road trip so far is Cubs starting pitching. Over the four games the starters have a 2.11 ERA in 21.1 innings, with only two home runs allowed.
Standings update: The Cubs lost half a game to the Brewers, who were rained out in Pittsburgh, and now trail Milwaukee by 7.5 games. The Brewers and Pirates will play a doubleheader today. The Cubs lead the Cardinals by 2.5 games in the division and are half a game ahead of the Phillies (and Marlins!) for the top wild card spot.
The Cubs will look to even up the series Saturday evening in Cincinnati. Javier Assad will start for the Cubs and Nick Lodolo goes for the Reds. Game time is 6:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
