The game, telecast on Roku, began at 11:35 a.m. and Greene had the Rays enduring a slumber party.
Greene retired the first 14 Rays and had a no-hitter with two outs in the sixth inning. He had the Rays on snooze control — seven innings, no runs, two hits, one walk, a hit batter and five strikeouts.
When Greene’s pitch-count reached 100, Reds managger David Bell determined that enough was enough and pulled him.
So in his last four starts, Greene has pitched 27 innings and given up one run (0.33 earned run average), nine hits, walked eight and struck out 29.
The Reds scored an unearned run in the second inning and that’s all. So it was 1-0 when Greene abdicated after seven innings.
And as has happened so often behind Greene, the bullpen barfed and the offense gagged.
Fernando Cruz loaded the bases and threw a wild pitch on a strikeout, permitting the tying run to score, and Lucas Sims issued a bases-loaded walk to force in the winning run.
The Reds dropped the series, two games to one, and slept-walk through it with four runs and 13 hits in the three games. They scored two runs over the last 27 innings. The one-run loss dropped Cincinnati’s record to 9-20 in one-run decisions.
Tampa turned tables on the Reds. After Cincinnati won Friday’s game, 3-2, in 10 innings on only three hits, the Rays collected only three singles Sunday.
And they never got the ball out of the infield to score their two runs in the eighth — an infield single, three walks, three stolen bases and a wild pitch.
The only run Greene received was a freebie presented to the Reds by the Rays, an unearned run in the second.
With one out, Rays third baseman Isaac Paredes threw away Stuart Fairchild’s ground ball for an error. Santiago Espinal extended his hitting streak to eight games with a single.
Austin Wynns singled, scoring Fairchild. But Wynns rounded first base too far and drew a throw. Espinal tried to score from third during the rundown and was thrown out.
Blunder No. 1.
It was one of several bad base-running sorties by the Reds, something they’ve perpetrated too often this season.
But Greene guarded that 1-0 lead like a grizzly bear protecting a pair of cubs.
For 4 1/3 innings Greene was perfection personifiied, 14 up and 14 down.
His perfect game evaporated when he walked Richie Palacios on a full count with two outs in the fifth. Then he hit Jonny DeLuca with a pitch, his MLB-leading 15th hit batsman.
That put Rays on second and first with two outs, but Greene retired Ben Rortvedt on a fly to center, preserving the no-hitter.
Better presevation came in the sixth when No. 9 hitter Taylor Walls blooped one to left. With his back to the infield, shortstop Elly De La Cruz concocted a sliding, backhanded catch just off the turf-top, saving the no-hitter.
It ended, though, with two outs in the sixth. Brandon Lowe lined a no-doubt single to right. And Greene hit Isaac Paredes, his 16th hit batter.
That put Rays on second and first with two outs once gain, just like the fifth. And he went to 3-and-0 on Josh Lowe then struck him out and it remained 1-0.
The Rays extracted a second hit off Greene in the seventh, but it was a two-out single to left by DeLuca. And he stole second. But that threat expired when Rortvedt grounded out to third.
De La Cruz had an, uh, rather interestinng afternoon. He had three hits, all singles, and three stolen bases.
But ... when he singled to right in the third he tried to squeeze a double out of it and was thrown out at second.
Blunder No. 2.
When he singled in the sixth, he stole second and third, giving him 54 thefts. But when Spencer Steer grounded to third, De La Cruz was pegged out at home by several feet on anotheer of those fatal run on contact plays the Reds continue to employ unsuccessfully.
Blunder No. 3.
De La Cruz reached for the fourth straight time with one out in the eighth on Tampa Bay third baseman Paredes’ second throwing error of the game.
De La Cruz stole his fourth base of the game and 55th of the year as Tyler Stephenson struck out. And De La Cruz continued to third when catcher Rortvedt threw the ball into center field.
Steer then flied to center and De La Cruz was left simmering on third base and the score stayed at 1-0.
With Greene at 100 pitches, his day was done after seven innings and an immediate problem surfaced for relief pitcher Fernando Cruz in the eighth.
The Rays filled the bases with one out on two full-count walks, an infield hit that hit the third base bag and three stolen bases.
Cruz struck out Josh Lowe for the second out. He went to 3-and-2 on Amed Rosario, threw a foul ball, then struck him out ... sort of.
The strikeout was a wild pitch that skipped past catcher Wynns and the tying run scored from third base.
Blunder No. 4.
Lucas Sims replaced Cruz with the bases still loaded and quickly fell 3-and-0 behind Palacios, threw a strike, then walked him to force in the go-ahead run.
Blunder No. 5 ... and the most fatal for the Reds.
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