Wikipedia:April Fools/April Fools' Day 2024/Cincinnati Reds–Oakland Athletics bottom of the 1st inning on April 29, 2023

On Saturday, April 29, 2023, the bottom of the 1st inning was played between the Cincinnati Reds of the National League, and the Oakland Athletics of the American League. Played at Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California, the inning in total featured three batters for the Athletics and one pitcher for the Reds. Of the three batters, only one was able to put a ball in play, and all three failed to get on base.

The Reds's starting pitcher, Hunter Greene, started the bottom half of the first with success, as he was able to throw many high-90 mile per hour fastballs in the strike zone, making it difficult for Oakland hitters to react in time to make contact with them. Using the fastball in combination with a slider, Greene struck out two out of three batters and induced many swinging strikes from Oakland batters.

Summary
To begin the Athletics' side of the order, the Reds sent out secondyear starter and former second overall pick Hunter Greene to take the mound. The Athletics sent out their center fielder Esteury Ruiz to bat first against Greene. Before the first pitch was even thrown, a new rule implemented for the 2023 season and beyond was enforced. Starting in this season, a pitch clock was implemented for the first time in Major League Baseball. The change was made to increase the speed of the game and reduce the amount of time the game would last. Greene, before throwing a pitch to Ruiz, used all 15 seconds allotted to pitchers with the bases empty, and thus was charged with an automatic ball. With the count at one ball and no strikes, Greene threw his first pitch of the day a 97 mile per hour fastball for a strike. This pitch would be the first of many highvelocity fastballs utilized by Greene during the bottom half of the inning. The second pitch of the at bat was the same as the first: a 97 mile per hour fastball. Ruiz swung at it and missed, leaving the count at one ball and two strikes. Greene, attempting to get a quick strikeout, threw a slider on his third pitch, but Ruiz didn't swing and it moved out of the zone, evening the count. With the offspeed pitch not fooling Ruiz, Greene opted to return to the fastball for the fourth pitch of the atbat. Ruiz hit it softly back to Greene, who tossed the ball to first baseman Spencer Steer for the first out.

The second hitter in the Oakland batting order was first baseman Ryan Noda. Greene's first pitch to Noda was a slider caught outside the strike zone. Noda, unlike Ruiz, swung at the slider and missed, making the count no balls and one strike. Having utilized the fastball several times already, Greene opted to throw another slider with his second pitch. This slider moved farther inside than the last one, so much so that Noda, a lefthanded batter, had to move out of the way to avoid being hit. With the control of his slider under question, Greene threw two straight fastballs: the first was swung on and missed, and the second one was tipped into the glove of catcher Luke Maile for the strikeout.

Brent Rooker, the third hitter in the Oakland batting order, came up next to face Greene. Greene, like he did against Noda, led off the atbat by throwing a slider. It was similar to the nearmiss of Noda in that it went far to the left, but it did not affect Rooker as he batted from the right side. Greene threw another fastball that Rooker swung and missed at for strike one, then another fastball that was arguably a strike, but was called a ball by home plate umpire D. J. Reyburn. Greene went back to the slider on his next pitch, finally locating it in the zone and inducing a whiff from Rooker, evening the count. For the fifth pitch of the atbat, Greene repeated his cycle of throwing the same pitch twice in a row, throwing his slider away and in the dirt, forcing Maile to move over and block it with his glove. Rooker, who had swung, attempted unsuccessfully to check up. Maile tagged Rooker to ensure Greene of his second strikeout and end the inning.

Aftermath
The Reds won the game by a score of 3 to 2.