With more than a little help from his friends defensively, Abbott pitched a complete game three-hit shutout as the Cincinnati Reds stopped the Cleveland Guardians, 1-0, Tuesday night in Progressive Field.
It was Abbott’s first nine-inning complete game on any level and it was only because of the trust from manager Tito Francona that he did it.
The Reds have matched their season’s best with a five-game winning streak and have beaten the Indians/Guardians five straight for the first time in franchise history.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Early in the game, centerfielder TJ Friedl crashed against the wall to snag away a sure-fire double hit by David Fry leading off the fourth inning.
Then right fielder Jake Fraley made a stupefying diving catch on Jose Ramirez, a triple if Fraley doesn’t stab it, leading off the seventh inning.
Only two runners reached base in the first eight innings and Abbott had thrown 90 pitches.
Then came the heart-throbber.
Abbott walked Steven Kwan on four pitches to open the ninth with the 1-0 lead, his first walk of the night. Then he went to 3-and-0 on Fry.
The fourth pitch was high and outside, actually ball four, but umpire Todd Tichenor called it a strike.
Abbott worked the count to 3-and-2 and Fry hit into a 6-4-3 double play, a double play turned quickly by shortstop Elly De La Cruz and second baseman Matt McLain.
But with two outs and nobody on, Jose Ramirez lined an 0-and-2 pitch into center field for a single, extending his on-base streak to 36 games and his hitting streak to 10 games.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Abbott was at 107 pitches and the tying run was on first base. Closer Emilio Pagan was ready in the bullpen.
But in the dugout, Francona turned to pitching coach Derek Johnson and said, “I want him to have this.”
So he left him in and he quickly jumped ahead of Carlos Santana 0-and-2.
“My heart was racing,” Abbott told reporters after the game. “Up and down their lineup, they’re stacked, a really good hitting team.”
On the 0-and-2 pitch, Santana slammed one to deep, deep left. A walk-off two-run homer? No, Will Benson chased it down just in front of the left field wall to end it.
Of the catches by Friedl and Fraley and the quick-trigger double play in the ninth, Abbott said, “All the credit to those guys. Without them, they’ve got runs on the board and runners in scoring position. I wouldn’t be here without them, so I thank them.”
While everybody went bonkers over Fraley’s catch, he only rates it as the second best catch of his career.
“My rookie year I robbed a home run in extra innings,” he said. “It was in Detroit and it was full extension all the way back and way up. It kept us in the game because it would have been a walk-off. And we eventually wound up winning.”
So was this one No. 2?
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Off the bat, from my view, it didn’t look as if Ramirez hit it that hard. So I undercut it for like two steps. Then I realized it had a real good flight on it.
“I angled back and he hit it so well, I was in full stride thinking, ‘I’ve really got to get to this.’ There was a split second when I didn’t think I would, but it was an instinctual thing,” he continued.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
“I started gaining ground, and I thought, ‘Now’s the time,’ and I took off and I had enough glove to reel it in.”
The Reds had their own struggles with Cleveland starter Slade Cecconi. He retired the first 10 with six strikeouts and struck out the side in the third inning.
Gavin Lux was the Reds’ first base runner with a singled with one out in the fourth. Elly De La Cruz followed with a single, putting two runners on with one out.
But Cecconi, using a curveball that dove like a hawk diving for prey, struck out Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Tyler Stephenson.
The Reds broke through for the game’s only run in the fifth. Will Benson doubled to left and scored on Spencer Steer’s single to right.
It could have been more. Cecconi walked Fraley, putting two on with no outs. But Matt McLain fouled out, first baseman Santana made a diving catch on Friedl’s bunt and Lux flied to center.
So Abbot, now 6-and-1 with a 1.87 earned run average, had to make do with one run and that he did.
“Every time Abbott goes out there, he gives us a chance to win,” Steer told reporters after the game. “He is having a great year and I just love the way he attacks hitters.”
When told Fraley thought his catch was only his second best, Steer said, “One of the best catches I’ve seen for sure. I didn’t think he had a chance of catching it. He came out of nowhere and made a heck of a play.”
Fraley said the game had a different feeling with the way Abbott was putting everybody away with zero margin for error.
“It had the feel of a no-hitter or a perfect game,” he said. “It was like every pitch matters, so when you are out there in a game like this, you have to stay locked in above and beyond. And with Abbott pitching, you don’t have to do much.”
No much, except make a catch that probably will be featured over and over and over again on the MLB network.
NEXT GAME
Who: Cincinnati at Cleveland
When: 1:10 p.m.
TV: FanDuel Sports
Radio: 1410-AM, 700-AM
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