CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati Reds right-hander Hunter Greene had thrown 93 pitches and given up just one hit through eight innings Thursday night. He wanted the ball in the ninth and manager Terry Francona wasn’t going to deny him this time.
Greene got the final three outs for his first career complete game shutout as the Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 1-0 to keep pace with the New York Mets for the third NL wild-card spot.
On April 7 at San Francisco, Greene retired the first two batters in the ninth with the Reds leading 2-0. After he allowed a single and a walk, Francona brought on Tony Santillan to get the final out. Greene finished with 104 pitches.
“San Francisco flashed kind of through my mind,” Greene said. “I was telling myself, ‘This is my game’. I told (manager Terry Francona) that next game that I pitched deep into that situation, I wanted to finish it.”
Francona didn’t budge from his dugout chair on Thursday night.
“I didn’t want to try,” the Reds skipper said. “We didn’t even have anyone throwing in the bullpen.”
Greene’s 107th pitch of the night registered 101.5 mph for strike two to Ian Happ, who fanned on five pitches for the final out. Greene had nine strikeouts and one walk. He threw 109 pitches.
Greene retired the first 12 batters until Moises Ballesteros reached on a fielding error to begin the fifth. He didn’t allow a hit until Seiya Suzuki’s two-out double in the seventh.
“The thing that sticks out is that it was 1-0,” Francona said. “There was no wiggle room. Coming off the other day in Sacramento, to back that up the way he did was really impressive.”
In Greene’s last outing on Saturday against the A’s, he allowed five runs and two home runs and pitched a season-low 2 1/3 innings. With the Reds trying to remain in the playoff chase, Greene responded.
“The last game doesn’t define me,” he said. “There are a lot of ups and downs in this sport. I’ve been able to overcome a lot of those over the years.”
Cubs starter Colin Rea matched Greene early but allowed a leadoff double by Austin Hays in the fourth. Hays scored on Will Benson’s double to drive in the game’s only run. Rea had a career-high 11 strikeouts, but it was Greene’s night.
“We were kind of going back and forth and we were having quick innings,” Rea said. “He’s elite. We know how good he is. He threw his hardest pitch in the ninth inning. That’s special.”
The Cubs clinched a postseason berth with an 8-4 victory in Pittsburgh on Wednesday and popped Champagne in the clubhouse afterward. The celebration continued when they arrived in Cincinnati later that night, according to manager Craig Counsell. Facing Greene proved to be a tall order.
“We scratched one run and you hear the music,” Francona said. “And that’s a good ballclub with a good lineup.”
This story has been corrected to show that Seiya Suzuki got the Cubs' first hit in the seventh inning. A previous version stated it was Moises Ballesteros.
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Cincinnati Reds pitcher Hunter Greene (21) delivers a pitch in the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Michael Swensen)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranians could call abroad on mobile phones Tuesday for the first time since communications were halted during a crackdown on nationwide protests in which activists said at least 646 people have been killed.
Several people in Tehran were able to call The Associated Press and speak to a journalist there. The AP bureau in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was unable to call those numbers back. The witnesses said SMS text messaging still was down and that internet users in Iran could connect to government-approved websites locally but nothing abroad.
The witnesses gave a brief glimpse into life on the streets of the Iranian capital over the four and a half days of being cut off from the world. They described seeing a heavy security presence in central Tehran.
Anti-riot police officers, wearing helmets and body armor, carried batons, shields, shotguns and tear gas launchers. They stood watch at major intersections. Nearby, the witnesses saw members of the Revolutionary Guard's all-volunteer Basij force, who similarly carried firearms and batons. Security officials in plainclothes were visible in public spaces as well.
Several banks and government offices were burned during the unrest, they said. ATMs had been smashed and banks struggled to complete transactions without the internet, the witnesses added.
However, shops were open, though there was little foot traffic in the capital. Tehran's Grand Bazaar, where the demonstrations began Dec. 28, was to open Tuesday. However, a witness described speaking to multiple shopkeepers who said the security forces ordered them to reopen no matter what. Iranian state media had not acknowledged that order.
The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its crackdown.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to the Qatar-funded satellite news network Al Jazeera in an interview aired Monday night, said he continued to communicate with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.
The communication “continued before and after the protests and are still ongoing," Araghchi said. However, “Washington’s proposed ideas and threats against our country are incompatible.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Iran’s public rhetoric diverges from the private messaging the administration has received from Tehran in recent days.
“I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages,” Leavitt said. “However, with that said, the president has shown he’s unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary, and nobody knows that better than Iran.”
Meanwhile, pro-government demonstrators flooded the streets Monday in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, which appeared to number in the tens of thousands, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Others cried out, “Death to the enemies of God!” Iran’s attorney general has warned that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death-penalty charge.
Trump announced Monday that countries doing business with Iran will face 25% tariffs from the United States. Trump announced the tariffs in a social media posting, saying they would be “effective immediately.”
It was action against Iran for the protest crackdown from Trump, who believes exacting tariffs can be a useful tool in prodding friends and foes on the global stage to bend to his will.
Brazil, China, Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are among economies that do business with Tehran.
Trump said Sunday that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
Iran, through the country’s parliamentary speaker, warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if Washington uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,700 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the latest death toll early Tuesday. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 512 of the dead were protesters and 134 were security force members.
With the internet down in Iran, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government hasn’t offered overall casualty figures.
A picture of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is set alight by protesters outside the Iranian Embassy in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
FILE - Protesters march on a bridge in Tehran, Iran, on Dec. 29, 2025. (Fars News Agency via AP, File)
