Chicago Cubs make quick work of Cincinnati Reds? Quicker than you think

CHICAGO -- Well, this season seems to be ending very quickly for the Cincinnati Reds .

By quick we mean 1 hour, 48 minutes.

That's how long it took to play Friday's wind-suppressed, here's-a-fastball-hit-it, speed-batting contest at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs' 1-0 victory was the fastest nine-inning game in the majors since Detroit's Armando Galarraga got screwed out of a perfect game by a bad call with two outs in the ninth on June 2, 2010 (before the replay-challenge era in baseball).

The last time the Cubs played a game that short was also at Wrigley Field, also against the Reds, on May 24, 2001 – the year before Elly De La Cruz was born.

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De La Cruz celebrated the occasion by getting thrown out at third trying to stretch a first-inning double, helping to speed up Friday's game.

Reds' starter Nick Martinez threw a five-hit, no-walk complete game (the first of his big-league career).

Cubs starter Jameson Taillon pitched the first seven innings of a combined four-hit shutout.

The pitchers were so aware of the conditions and comfortable that only two walks were issued combined (to the Reds' TJ Friedl and Ty France back-to-back in the second) and only seven strikeouts were recorded combined, thanks to the middle-of-the-plate approach.

At least six pitches between the teams were squared up emphatically enough to have been home runs on most other days at most ballparks.

“Knowing what the wind is doing, I kind of played to the elements,” Martinez said. “At times I was trying to see how far they could hit it, knowing it would benefit me.”

The last time a game was played more quickly at Wrigley Field was 1978.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Chicago Cubs make quick work of Cincinnati Reds? Quicker than you think