Andrew Abbott pulls off 131-year first for Cincinnati Reds in win over St. Louis Cardinals
ST. LOUIS — It might get easily overshadowed and lost in the spectacle and din of what Elly De La Cruz and some of the Cincinnati Reds’ other young hitters are doing these days.
But if this team goes anywhere but home after the season, it’ll be because of guys like left-hander Andrew Abbott, who debuted the day before De La Cruz and has made his own noise in two starts since.
And even made franchise history.
“Two great starts. What a great way to begin your major league career,” Reds manager David Bell said after Abbott pitched two outs deep into the sixth inning without allowing a run to pitch the Reds to an 8-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.
“And they were important games for us.”
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Abbott (2-0) debuted Monday with six scoreless in a victory over the Dodgers. His 11 2/3 scoreless streak is the longest by a Reds pitcher to start a career since Amir Garrett started with 12 in 2017.
And this: Abbott is the first Reds pitcher since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893 to begin his major league career with consecutive scoreless starts of at least five innings.
“That’s pretty good,” he said when told after the game of the history he made. “A lot of good players have come through here, and there’ll be a lot of good players afterwards, too. It means a lot to hear that.”
Abbott, who walked three and struck out four, survived a long first inning, eventually working out of a bases loaded jam before settling down and retiring 14 of the final 19 he faced, with only one runner reaching second the rest of his outing.
“He’s been really impressive,” said catcher Luke Maile, who sees more consistency as Abbott’s next step.
“Just more precision,” Maile said. “His stuff is going to be good enough to where that’s going to be a factor, but if he can really hone in and land the breaking ball at the bottom and differentiate that between the breaking ball we want to bounce, and so on and so forth, it is really good.”
Said Abbott: “I’ve got to be a little more in the zone, stop nibbling, like my dad said, and we’ll be good to go.
“We’ll figure things out and be rocking.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How Andrew Abbott's victory in St. Louis made Cincinnati Reds history
