Hunter Greene threw six hitless innings and the Cincinnati Reds came within six outs of the first no-hitter of the season in a 9-0 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Greene (1-4) matched a career high with 11 strikeouts in picking up his first win in 11 starts this season. The Cubs got their only two hits in the eighth against Eduardo Salazar.
There were a record nine no-hitters in 2021 and four last year.
The hard-throwing Greene walked two while throwing 110 pitches. And other than a fly ball to the warning track by Nico Hoerner in the sixth, there weren’t many hard hit balls against the righthander.
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Salazar retired all three batters in the seventh before Christopher Morel lined a single to center leading off the eighth. Miles Mastrobuoni singled with one out.
Matt McLain, Spencer Steer, Tyler Stephenson, and Stuart Fairchild each had three of Cincinnati’s season-high 19 hits.
Stephenson capped a two-run first with an RBI single, doubled and scored in the third, and chased Cubs starter Justin Steele (6-2) in the fourth with a run-scoring single that made it 6-0.
The Cubs have been outscored, 19-1, the past two games after getting pounded, 10-1, by the New York Mets on Thursday. And Steele simply took a beating in his shortest start of the year.
Fourth in the National League in ERA coming in, he got tagged for a season-worst six runs — five earned. The righthander matched a career high by giving up 10 hits.
Aaron Boone, twice ejected in a week, suspended for one game
Yankees manager Aaron Boone was handed a one-game suspension following his latest ejection and admitted his arguments may have created an image in the minds of umpires.
“Well, I think I’ve earned that reputation,” he said before the suspension and fine were announced.
Michael Hill, MLB’s senior vice president for on-field operations, made the announcement. MLB said the discipline was “for his recent conduct toward major league umpires, including the actions following his ejection from Thursday night’s game against the Baltimore Orioles.”
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Boone sat out Friday night’s series opener against San Diego.
He was ejected for the major league-high fourth time this season, the most among big league managers, when he became angry with Edwin Moscoso’s strike zone during a 3-1 loss. Boone held up four fingers while arguing in the middle of the third inning, signaling Boone thought the plate umpire missed four pitches.
Boone also was angry Moscoco walked away during the argument and first base umpire Chris Guccione, the crew chief, stood between the two when Boone tried to re-engage Moscoso. Boone may have gotten spit on an umpire while arguing.
“Do I think it’s leading to a quick hook? Not necessarily,” Boone said. “Maybe I’m delusional and that I did more than I think. I don’t think that’s the case. But, no, I don’t think I’m being targeted by umpires going in, like they’re not going to tolerate certain things. I think I’m treated fairly.”
Still, he admitted the frequent arguments may have had an impact.
“I do think there is probably the occasional bias that exists,” Boone said. “We’re human beings. I’m sure certain people don’t like hearing from me.”
Aaron Boone has been ejected again pic.twitter.com/hHAbJArIeT
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 25, 2023
Boone was ejected against Cleveland on April 12, against Toronto on May 15, and against Cincinnati on Sunday
His 30 ejections are sixth among current managers, even though his 720 games entering Friday were far fewer than those who have more ejections: Bruce Bochy (78 in 4,081 games), Bob Melvin (55 in 2,830), Terry Francona (47 in 3,509), Bud Black (35 in 2,283), and Buck Showalter (34 in 3,282).
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Boone is averaging an ejection every 25 games, a far faster pace than Bochy and Melvin (52), Black (65), Francona (75) and Showalter (97). Cincinnati’s David Bell had 23 ejections in 596 games, an average of one per 26 games.
“I don’t like that it’s happened a few times this week, and I’d like to not get ejected and hopefully I can start a long streak of not getting ejected,” Boone said. “I’m not necessarily afraid to, but no, it’s not my intent to get ejected and I don’t want to. And hopefully I won’t for a while.”
Also Friday, Aaron Hicks’ eight-year tenure with the Yankees officially ended when the outfielder was released from a contract that had more than 2½ seasons remaining. Hicks, owed about $27.6 million, was designated for assignment last Saturday. The 33-year-old was batting .188 with a homer and five RBIs in 28 games this season.
Jacob deGrom throws second bullpen this week
Texas righthander Jacob deGrom threw 31 pitches during a bullpen session, mixing his pitches without showing any apparent sign of pain.
The injured pitcher threw in front of Texas manager Bochy and others before the Rangers faced the Baltimore Orioles.
The big questions are: How will the 34-year-old pitcher feel in the aftermath of his latest throwing session? And when will he return from the injured list, where he’s languished with right elbow inflammation for nearly a month?
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“He felt fine,” Bochy said. “Now it’s just wait and see how he recovers from that.”
DeGrom has been on the 15-day injured list since April 29. That was a day after he departed early for the second time in his last three starts, and an MRI showed some inflammation. He threw 32 pitches Monday, all of them fastballs, but went for more variety Friday.
“He spun the ball, slider more so than the curveball, threw some changeups. Used his whole arsenal,” Bochy said. “Looked pretty good.”
Kershaw, Glasnow set up for Saturday showdown
Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is set to start Saturday against the Tampa Bay Rays after being activated from the bereavement list. The lefthander went on the list Monday following the death of his mother, Marianne Tombaugh.
“I talked to Clayton a little bit today,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He certainly feels much better than he did the last couple starts. There is some kind of overall body fatigue, the ball wasn’t coming out well, so he’s in a considerably better spot going into tomorrow.”
Rays righthander Tyler Glasnow is set to oppose Kershaw in his regular-season debut. Sidelined since spring training by a strained left oblique, he made four minor league starts. Also, Julio Urías, the Los Angeles lefthander who left his start May 18 after three innings because of a strained left hamstring, was scheduled to throw off a mound Saturday.
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Colorado’s Feltner hasn’t ruled out return following skull fracture
Colorado righthander Ryan Feltner is slowly recovering from a concussion and fractured skull. He doesn’t know if he can pitch again this year, but he hasn’t ruled it out.
“The desire on my end is there. I’m putting my trust in the team, the professionals that know more than I do about the issues,” said the 26-year-old, 2-3 with a 5.86 ERA in eight starts. “We’re in this process together, but I will pitch again at some point, I don’t know if will be this year.”
Feltner spoke publicly for the first time since getting hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of Philadelphia’s Nick Castellanos on May 13. Feltner spent a night in the hospital and has lingering concussion symptoms, as well as right ear pain.
“A lot of fractures symptoms, just a headache from the concussion, dizziness, but today there’s no pain,” he said while sitting in the home dugout at Coors Field. “I’m sleeping well, and day-to day stuff has become a lot easier. So the feel is that I’m in a really good spot compared to where it could be.”
Feltner started balancing exercises Thursday and faces a long road to recovery. He can read and watch TV in short spurts, and said he is most comfortable outside, where he can focus on things at a distance. . . .
Sam Bachman was promoted from Double-A Rocket City by the Los Angeles Angels, making the 23-year-old righthander the first top-10 pick from the 2021 amateur draft to reach the majors.