Reds ace Hunter Greene rocked in postseason debut back home in LA

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hunter Greene lived out a childhood dream Tuesday night, making his first postseason start for the Cincinnati Reds in his hometown.

There was no Hollywood ending for him, though.

Greene gave up a leadoff homer to Shohei Ohtani and lasted only three innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers pounded Cincinnati pitching for a 10-5 victory in the opener of their NL Wild Card Series.

The hard-throwing right-hander was tagged for six hits and five runs — all on three homers. He walked two and struck out four.

“Just wasn’t great at executing my slider,” Greene said. “That’s where I got hurt the most tonight. I’ve got to be able to make that pitch.”

The 26-year-old Greene prepped at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, about 15 miles north of Dodger Stadium, and was the second overall pick in the 2017 amateur draft.

He grew up a Dodgers fan, but thought he kept his emotions in check Tuesday night.

“Even keeled. Never felt fast,” said Greene, an All-Star last year. “Just wasn’t able to execute the way I needed to.”

In the first inning, Ohtani laced a 117.7 mph drive off a 100.4 mph fastball from Greene — the fastest pitch the three-time MVP has homered on in his major league career.

Greene issued consecutive walks to Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy in the third, and those proved costly when Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman launched back-to-back homers that gave the Dodgers a 5-0 lead. Greene got out of the inning after that, but then Reds manager Terry Francona went to his bullpen.

“Ball just got away from me, that’s really it,” said Greene, who went 7-4 with a 2.76 ERA in 19 starts this season.

Ohtani turned around a triple-digit fastball early, but Greene struck him out in the second inning on a 100 mph heater.

That fastball seemed to generate mixed results.

“There were some swings and misses on it,” Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson said. “I know Ohtani got one to hit. Just kind of a bad location. Teoscar hit the slider. I thought he made some good pitches, but they just took advantage of some he didn’t.”

During Monday’s workout at Dodger Stadium, Greene went to the mound and dropped to a knee, perhaps envisioning a scenario in which he turned the ball over to the Cincinnati bullpen after a successful playoff outing.

Maybe another night.

“(I’m) frustrated, but I have a lot of confidence that I’ll be back in this position and that we’ll be able to come out on top,” Greene said.

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