Top Takeaways From Reds Dominant 9-6 Win Over Rockies

Denver is known for its thin air, and Coors Field is known for seeing balls fly into the stands. For the Reds on Sunday, they took full advantage of the Mile-High altitude and the thin air and turned an early offensive explosion. The early fireworks gave Hunter Greene plenty of breathing room on the mound, and it enabled the Reds' shaky bullpen to hold on late to give the Reds a 9-6 win and series victory.

Here are our takeaways from the Reds' win over the Rockies:

Offense Jumps on Colorado in a Big Way Early

Tyler Stephenson has been heating up at the right time for the Reds. It remains to be seen how long he'll still be with them. — Cincinnati Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson (37) returns to the dugout after the top of the second inning of the MLB Interleague game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Toronto Blue Jays at Great American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati on Friday, Aug. 18, 2023. The game was scoreless after four innings. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

By the time Hunter Greene tooke the mound in the bottom of the second inning, the Reds already had an 8-1 lead. Nathaniel Lowe and Tyler Stephenson both homered in the top of the first to give the Reds a quick 5-0 lead, and Sal Stewart clubbed a three-run home run in the top of the second to extend the Reds lead to 8-1. Stephenson homered again in the top of the fifth to give the Reds a 9-1 lead.

The Reds had four home runs and two doubles on the day, part of a 10-hit day in their nine-run output.

Hunter Greene with another Dominant Start

Hunter Greene has been excellent in his last two starts. — Cincinnati Reds pitcher Hunter Greene (21) throws a pitch in the third inning of the MLB National League game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Colorado Rockies at Great American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati on Thursday, July 11, 2024. The Reds led 3-0 after three innings. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Don't look now, but Greene has now put together back-to-back stellar starts. Sunday in Colorado, where the ball can fly in the thin air, Greene pitched six innings with allowing just three earned runs on four hits, while striking out seven hitters. He didn't issue a walk.

Greene has pitched 13 innings with 19 strikeouts and just one walk in his last two starts. That's what you want to see from Greene, and it gives you hope that the Reds have, actually, a really strong top end of the rotation.

The Reds now have Greene and Chase Burns on contract extensions. Starting pitching is everything in Major League Baseball, and the Reds, even with all of their flaws within their front office, have done a good job identifying Greene and Burns as part of their core of stars. Both of them being starting pitchers is an added bonus.

On Deck

The Reds will head further west to start this week when they travel to the Emerald City to take on the Seattle Mariners.

Get ready for some late night baseball with the Reds on the Pacific Coast. Monday and Tuesday have 9:40 E.T. first pitches, with Wednesday an earlier start time at 3:40 E.T..

All three games will be on Reds.TV.

The Mariners were in progress in a game at home against the San Francisco Giants. Seattle entered play Sunday 49-50, one game back of the first-place Texas Rangers in the American League West and 1.5 games back of the third American League Wild Card.

Playing the Mariners this week makes you feel like why can't the Reds be in the AL West? They'd have maybe an outside chance of still winning a division title if they were in it. Then again, the whole American League West is down.

Andrew Abbott (5-5, 4.11 ERA) will start for the Reds on Monday against Mariners right-hander George Kirby (7-8, 3.76 ERA). Chase Burns (11-2, 2.54) will make his first start following his contract extension on Tuesday against former Reds right-hander Luis Castillo (3-8, 4.93 ERA). Brady Singer (4-9, 4.56 ERA) will start on Wednesday against right-hander Emerson Hancock (6-4, 3.17 ERA).

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