LOS ANGELES — Twelve years ago, in the Cincinnati Reds’ previous playoff appearance during a non-COVID season, Johnny Cueto allowed four runs in 3 ⅓ innings as the Reds lost the NL Wild Card Game in Pittsburgh. The Reds’ ace had a bad day as the road crowd chanted his name, and the Reds’ chances of advancing took a nosedive as Cueto’s start got away from him. The Pirates moved on, and the “Cue-to” game became baggage that Cueto had to carry with him.

On Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles beat the Reds, 10-5, in Game 1 of the three-game Wild Card series. Hunter Greene, the Reds’ current ace, allowed five runs in three innings. He didn’t have his slider, wasn’t commanding the ball well, left pitches over the plate and paid for it.

“It’s the biggest game so far of the year,” Greene said. “That stuff should be there. Unfortunately it wasn’t.”

It almost always comes down to pitching. That was the story when the Reds failed to advance in Game 163 in 1999 and in Game 1 in 2010, 2012 and 2013 (the exception was 2020). That was also around the case on Tuesday around MLB as Blake Snell carved up the Reds with his third pitch (his changeup). Looking at the winning teams in Tuesday’s playoff games around the league, Snell, Tarik Skubal, Matthew Boyd and Garrett Crochet combined to allow five total runs.

The Reds’ built the 2025 team around Greene and this rotation. Greene is a phenomenal talent coming off of some incredible starts. If I’d have told before the game that the Reds would score five runs on Tuesday against the Dodgers, you probably would have taken it.

It should have been a storybook moment for Greene, pitching against the team that he rooted for as a kid in a game against the blue blood Dodgers. Greene has always lived under a spotlight. A dominant win on Tuesday would have taken him to a completely different level. There was plenty of belief in him.

In certain starts in big moments of Greene’s career, he has been very amped up, overpitched a bit at the start and then quickly faded during the middle innings. That didn’t look like it was the case on Tuesday. He just didn’t have his slider or his command. He just had a bad day.

“That’s baseball,” Spencer Steer said. “Stuff like that happens. It doesn’t take away from the year he has had and how incredible of a pitcher he is. Hopefully, he gets another chance to throw this postseason.”

“I’m sure we’ll have a conversation tomorrow,” Tyler Stephenson said. “Any time someone has a bad day, you’re always going to be there to support each other. We’re going to be there for him.”

Brent Suter knew exactly what Greene was going through. In 2020, Suter started Game 1 of a three-game Wild Card round against the Dodgers. He allowed three runs in 1 ⅔ innings and walked five batters.

“When I failed here, I left it all out there, I just wasn’t executing,” Suter said. “You learn from it. I bounced back in that offseason. It was heavy at first, but I used it as fuel to get better. The next year, I went out and had my best year. I told (Greene) to use this as fuel. Use this as motivation. Failure can turn into our best teacher. It’s baseball. Baseball is a very humbling game.”

A lot happened down the stretch of Tuesday’s game, but it all tied back to Greene’s start. If he had pitched better, then the Hays/Hayes bench decisions don’t play out in the same way, the high-leverage relievers pitch instead of the lower leverage guys (Connor Phillips and Brent Suter combined to allow five runs) and it’s a completely different game.

The Reds’ plan was built around a big game from Greene. Before the game, Terry Francona was asked why Ke’Bryan Hayes was starting at third over Sal Stewart.

“We have our guy that started Opening Day on the mound,” Francona said. “If Hays couldn’t have played, we probably would have played Sal at first (and Spencer Steer in left). I’m not claiming to be Abner Doubleday. I just think with who’s pitching, let’s put our best defense out there of the guys that face lefties. Then if we need to make some adjustments later in the game, we can. I just hate to not catch the ball and have it be my fault. I try to help.”

Last week against the Pirates, a turning point was a play that Stewart didn’t make at third base.

Francona still wanted to get Stewart an at-bat on Tuesday. It came in an interesting sequence of moves.

Austin Hays missed most of the last week of the regular season with back spasms. He fought through and made himself available to play on Tuesday. But with the Dodgers up, 8-0, Francona started making moves oriented toward setting the Reds up better for Games 2 and 3 of the series. Pulling Hays from the game was equivalent to putting Suter in the game and should help keep Hays fresher for the rest of the series.

Hays subbed out in the bottom of the seventh inning after his turn in the order had passed. Likely as a way for the Reds to not have to make two separate moves and use an extra bench player, Stewart replaced Hays as a straight-up switch, entered the game as a defensive replacement at first base and Steer moved to left.

“At the time, we were down eight,” Francona said. “I really want (Hays) to play tomorrow. To be fair to him and everything he has been through, and I also wanted to get Sal an at-bat.”

How the Reds got to this point came back later in the game.

Hayes is a Gold Glove favorite at third base, but he has the second-worst OPS in MLB against qualifying hitters. Francona explained pregame his process for starting Hayes over Stewart. But in the top of the fifth inning, Greene was already out of the game and the Reds were only down by five runs.

Stewart could have replaced Hayes in that spot, but he didn’t. That move really stands out in retrospect.

Then in the top of the seventh, Hayes was up again with a runner on second. Stewart was getting ready to enter the game for Hays as the Reds trailed by eight runs. Hayes wasn’t pinch-hit for, ended the inning with an out and stayed in the game with the Reds staring down a massive deficit.

Now, it’s the top of the eighth. Facing a shaky Dodgers bullpen, the Reds scratched and clawed their way back in the game with walks and singles. Dave Roberts took advantage of the Reds’ lineup construction and brought in a left-handed reliever when Elly De La Cruz stepped up to the plate. While De La Cruz worked a productive bases loaded walk to make it a 10-5 game, having a left-hander in the game prevented Francona from subbing in Gavin Lux or Will Benson when Hayes’ turn came back around in the order. Facing lefty Jack Dreyer with the bases loaded in the eighth, Francona’s options were Hayes and Santiago Espinal, who has three at-bats and no hits since Sept. 1.

Francona stuck with Hayes, and Hayes popped out to end the inning. The rally died, and the Dodgers held on for a 10-5 win.

“That (was) a big deficit,” Francona said. “That’s a lot to ask. But we kept playing. That’s what you’re supposed to do.”