As Abbott shoulders heavy load, Reds have his back

CINCINNATI -- The Reds didn’t acquire a starting pitcher at the Trade Deadline, and they are still waiting for Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo to return from the injured list later this month.

In the meantime, Cincinnati is relying on rookie left-hander Andrew Abbott to shoulder much of the load. It’s a lot to ask, and as dazzling as Abbott has been at times, he’s 24 years old and still adjusting to the big leagues.

On Saturday, Abbott (6-3) issued a career-high five walks and tied his career high of six earned runs allowed as the Reds lost their fifth straight game, 7-3, to the Nationals at Great American Ball Park.

“Our guys are doing a lot of things that you wouldn’t expect for young players,” manager David Bell said. “Andrew’s at the top of that list. It’s not that it’s easy and they don’t struggle. We just have to be there to support him every step of the way, the good ones and the bad ones.”

Abbott allowed four runs over 3 1/3 innings in his last outing on Monday against the Cubs, the shortest outing of his career.

With a bullpen game likely on Sunday, the Reds needed a lengthy outing from Abbott on Saturday. He managed to get through 5 2/3 innings, which is a credit to him considering how the game started.

“It’s one of those days in baseball where you don’t have it,” Abbott said. “It’s going from [trying to] dominate to just going out and trying to compete as long as I could for the team to give the bullpen a break.”

Abbott allowed a run on two hits and a pair of walks in the first inning, but he limited the damage by striking out Ildemaro Vargas to leave the bases loaded.

“He’s had a fantastic start to his big league career,” Bell said. “Today he was walking guys early, really feeling for it. Then he went on to give us everything he had.”

A fielding error by TJ Friedl in center and a throwing error by catcher Luke Maile resulted in two more runs in the fourth. The Reds committed four errors on Saturday, but Bell said it wasn’t a sign his young team is feeling the pressure of a postseason chase.

“There’s zero concern with this team,” Bell said. “You just continue to work hard, play hard and do it together. It tests you, for sure. But who we have on this team, there’s not any concern.”

With the Nationals leading 6-0 going into the bottom of the sixth, right-hander Joan Adon had yet to yield a baserunner.

Adon was recalled on Saturday to make a spot start after posting a 6.72 ERA in 17 prior Major League appearances, 15 of which were starts.

“He was really deceptive,” Friedl said of Adon. “He hides the ball for a long time, so you kind of have a little less reaction time to pick it up. Makes it a little hard to see, hard to make adjustments. He was also hitting his spots. He had some borderline pitches that we were taking. Second and third time through [the order], we had some good at-bats.”

Maile’s single with two outs in the sixth ended Adon’s perfect-game bid. An infield hit by Elly De La Cruz preceded Friedl’s three-run homer to right, making the score 6-3.

It was Friedl’s ninth home run of the season.

“I just tried to hit the ball after seeing [Adon] a couple times through,” Friedl said. “I put myself in a good count, got a fastball and put a good swing on it.”

The Reds came into the day tied with the Orioles for the Major League lead with 35 comeback wins, but the deficit on Saturday proved too much.

“No one loses faith in this team,” Friedl said. “It’s baseball. There’s going to be highs and lows, ups and downs. You’re going to have winning streaks, losing streaks. We’re still right in the thick of things. Our mindset hasn’t changed.”