'He's feeling himself': Abbott dominates with 12 K's in win

CINCINNATI -- Six Major League starts are all Reds rookie Andrew Abbott has on his resume. For most pitchers, it doesn't usually look this dominant this early.

"He's pitching like he's been here a long time," Reds catcher Luke Maile said.

Abbott is already the best starter in Cincinnati's rotation and its go-to guy for what is shaping up to be a tight division race. The left-hander pitched sensationally for 7 2/3 innings in a no-decision. The Reds were boosted by Tyler Stephenson's pinch-hit, two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth for a 4-3 victory over the Padres on Sunday at Great American Ball Park.

"Today, he had it all working, for sure. He has already shown who he was. Today was probably the best start he's had," Reds manager David Bell said. "To go that deep into the game is an incredible start to his career."

Ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Reds' No. 5 prospect and No. 59 overall, Abbott allowed four hits and one walk with a career-high 12 strikeouts.

The win gave the Reds wins in two of three games vs. San Diego for their seventh series win in their last eight. At 45-39, they also remain tied for first place with the Brewers in the NL Central race.

Here is more of what Abbott has accomplished:

• Sunday was the longest outing by a Cincinnati pitcher this season and the longest of Abbott’s pro career.
• Abbott is 4-0 with a 1.21 ERA and 0.88 WHIP. Only Tom Browning (0.95 from 1984-85) had a lower ERA for the Reds in his first six big league starts since earned runs became an official statistic in 1912, per Elias Sports Bureau.
• The Reds are 6-0 in games Abbott starts, including 4-0 when he pitches following a loss the previous game.
• Against the Padres, he induced 25 whiffs on 50 swings. That's tied for the most this season for a Reds pitcher with Hunter Greene's April 29 start and third-most for a rookie since pitch tracking began in 2008. (Tyler Mahle and Domingo Germán each had 26 in 2018).

Does any of this surprise Abbott?

“No. I think it’s all the hard work we’ve all put in," Abbott replied confidently. "We’ve all gotten here. I kept telling myself, ‘Getting here is the dream, but staying here is the lifestyle that you want.’ You want to go in and do your hard work every day and just put your head down and go."

In, out, up, down. Abbott changed speeds and used his four-seam fastball, sweeper, curveball and changeup effectively on all four quadrants of the plate with his 101 pitches (66 strikes).

"Obviously, he's really good, but it's the power of being able to throw four pitches in the zone when you want to. That's probably what stood out to me," Maile said.

Early on, Abbott struck out key Padres hitters Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts in the first inning and Fernando Tatis Jr. in the third with high and outside fastballs. Later, he used off-speed pitches down in the zone for other strikeouts.

"When I have four [pitches] that were all in the strike zone, it kind of gives them a 25 percent chance, if they’re guessing, to get it correct," Abbott said. "The only one who got it correct was Kim, and he put a good swing on it, and that was that.”

The Padres notched back-to-back one-out singles against Abbott in the top of the first inning before the left-hander retired the next 15 batters in a row.

Abbott took a shutout into the eighth inning.

"The way he was pitching made it pretty easy," Bell said of the decision to send Abbott out for the eighth after 92 pitches.

After Abbott struck out the first two batters of the eighth, Ha-Seong Kim hit a first-pitch fastball to left field for a homer.

Abbott received a standing ovation from the 37,714 fans at the ballpark. But reliever Lucas Sims took over, and Tatis tied the game with his own homer to left field to a chorus of boos.

Pinch-hitting for Joey Votto, Stephenson came through with his first-pitch, two-run homer to right field in the bottom of the eighth.

"What he did today was amazing," Stephenson said of Abbott. "It's been super fun to see what he's been doing, and yeah, he's feeling himself right now."