Reds' No. 5 prospect Abbott throws much-needed gem vs. O's

BALTIMORE – It was rookie Andrew Abbott's fifth Major League start and the Reds already needed him to be a stopper. The left-hander assumed that role with the calm and ease of a veteran on Tuesday against the Orioles.

Now the Reds just need to acquire another starting pitcher for their beat-up rotation who can do likewise. Abbott gave them six quality innings and retired 12 of his last 13 batters as Cincinnati took a 3-1 win over Baltimore at Camden Yards. It snapped a three-game losing streak to retake first place in the National League Central by a half-game over the Brewers.

“He just got here," Reds manager David Bell said. "We’ve lost a few after the long [12-game] winning streak. … We definitely looked forward to having Andrew on the mound tonight.”

Abbott, who allowed one earned run, two hits and three walks with three strikeouts, is 4-0 with a 1.21 ERA. Since the Reds' No. 5 prospect debuted, he is responsible for four of Cincinnati's last five quality starts, which is at least six innings with three earned runs or less.

“I wouldn’t really consider it a stopper," Abbott demurred. "I would just say we needed a little bit of length for the bullpen. It’s just important to give 100 percent of what I’ve got today and that was six innings. Just go out and do everything I can.”

He may not agree, but nothing says Abbott is a stopper more than this: He's 3-0 in games he starts following a Reds loss.

“That’s pretty cool, I guess," Abbott acknowledged.

Abbott overcame some command issues early. A leadoff walk led to a run that scored on a sacrifice fly in the second inning. But Matt McLain's RBI single in the fourth inning tied the game at 1 and his leadoff home run to right-center field in the sixth provided the go-ahead run.

TJ Friedl, who two-strike bunted for the Reds' first hit ahead of McLain after the first nine in a row were retired, added a solo homer in the eighth.

“That’s a good feeling when you go out there and your pitcher works like that and dominates like that, and we get enough runs to support him and give him a chance," McLain said. "He did that today, it was good."

It's almost July and that means the Aug. 1 Trade Deadline is just around the corner. The Reds have a struggling rotation decimated by injuries and a bullpen that's been getting taxed hard in recent weeks.

General manager Nick Krall's efforts to acquire a starting pitcher from outside the organization are ongoing but nothing promising is close.

“Not right now," Krall said before Tuesday's game. “You’ve got the posturing portion of things right now. We’re trying to figure out where people are right now and what they want to do. I think there’s some teams that [it’s] are you either in or out of it? Are they trying to wait as well?”

Cincinnati starters have a 5.88 ERA, which is ranked 28th in Major League Baseball while being ranked 24th in innings.

Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Ben Lively are on the injured list, with Greene and Lodolo not expected back until August.

Greene, who is dealing with a sore right hip, is headed to Goodyear, Ariz., to do a core strengthening program for his hip and back before he can resume pitching. Lodolo, who has a stress reaction in his left tibia, is undergoing a follow-up MRI on Wednesday to determine whether he can take off the boot he's been wearing for several weeks.

Multiple veteran starting pitchers could be trade chips this summer, according to MLB.com's Mark Feinsand. Among those identified were Shane Bieber of the Guardians, Lucas Giolito of the White Sox, Eduardo Rodriguez of the Tigers and Jack Flaherty of the Cardinals.

The Reds are loaded with prospect capital and have position player roster depth at the big league level. Krall did not name the players teams are inquiring about but the asking prices appear to be extraordinarily high.

“Right now, the conversations are in places that we don’t want to go," Krall said. "We’re trying to figure out if there’s other matches out there that are different players.”

Among the top Reds prospects that haven't reached the big leagues are third baseman Noelvi Marte (No. 2 in the organization according to MLB Pipeline), third baseman Cam Collier (No. 4), corner infielder Christian Encarnacion-Strand (No. 6) and third baseman Sal Stewart (No. 8). Encarnacion-Strand is currently at Triple-A Louisville and the closest to a big league call-up.

Krall could not say how confident he was that the Reds could get a deal made.

"I honestly don’t know," he said. "I think it depends on where we are with injuries, where we are as a team. A lot depends on where we are and where we’re going.”