Abbott's start bookended by two-out trouble vs. Pirates

CINCINNATI -- During a battle of aces -- especially when that opposing ace is the Pirates' Paul Skenes -- Reds lefty Andrew Abbott did not have the benefit of wiggle room.

Two-out trouble bookended Abbott's second start of the season in the first and sixth innings. But it was a three-run first-inning home run by Oneil Cruz that hurt the most as the Reds were handed an 8-3 loss on Wednesday afternoon while dropping two of three games in the series at Great American Ball Park.

“With Skenes on the mound, you hate to give them anything early because you know you’re going to be fighting for everything you can get," Reds manager Terry Francona said.

Over 5 2/3 innings, Abbott gave up four runs on five hits and three walks with five strikeouts.

Abbott had two quick outs in the first inning before giving up a single and a walk. On a 2-1 curveball over the middle of the plate, Cruz walloped it to right field for a 3-0 Pirates lead. It was Cruz's third homer of the season, all in the past two games.

Two more singles followed the Cruz homer before Abbott struck out No. 8 hitter Spencer Horwitz with his 28th pitch of the first inning. Then he retired 14 of his next 15 batters,

“He kind of settled in and he was able to get them in-between it seemed like," Reds third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes said. "He was able to work both sides of the plate and get weak contact."

Abbott also moved through hitters quickly, including during an eight-pitch second inning and a seven-pitch top of the third.

“I settled down, controlled the counts. I really only made one bad pitch, and it got tattooed," Abbott said. "That’s a credit to [Cruz], he still has to hit it. I was ahead of guys at the end, making them hit my pitches. I was locating better.”

Looking effective on his end, Skenes did not give up a hit until the fourth inning, when Elly De La Cruz led off with a single into right field. Two batters later, Nathaniel Lowe's RBI double to right-center field ended a streak of 31 consecutive scoreless innings against Skenes for the Reds, dating back to his first career start against them on June 17, 2024.

Skenes finished with one run allowed on three hits and two walks over five innings with five strikeouts. Over six career starts vs. Cincinnati, he is 5-0 with a 0.53 ERA.

“I trust our hitters," Abbott said. "I know it’s a tough guy on the mound. They do their homework, they’re ready to do it. He’s a really tough arm. He’s a really good arm in this league.

"He just had the jump start just getting his pitches across, making our guys kind of battling counts and didn’t really get a lot of pitches that were mistakes from him. I think that’s what makes him really good. I wouldn’t say it was head-to-head, me and him. I still had to beat their lineup, and he still had to beat ours.”

Two-out difficulty came Abbott's way again in the sixth inning when Cruz hit a single and Nick Yorke walked. Connor Phillips took over and walked his first two batters on a combined nine pitches to force in a run. It was the second appearance in a row that Phillips entered a game and walked his first two batters.

“I think I was trying to overdo it because I knew I got two quick outs," Abbott said. "I was trying to do too much probably instead of just relaxing and staying even keel and whatnot. I trust our guys and I know nine times out of 10, Phillips is going to come in and do the job for us. It just wasn’t that day for him.”

But that proved very consequential in the bottom of the sixth when pinch-hitter Eugenio Suárez slugged a two-run homer into the left-field upper deck to cut Pittsburgh's lead to one run. Had Phillips not walked in a run, Suárez would have tied the game. Pittsburgh tacked on four more runs off Emilio Pagán in the ninth inning.

Cincinnati, which took two of three from the Red Sox in its first series of the season, finished a 3-3 homestand.

Through two starts, Abbott is 0-1 with a 3.09 ERA, including six scoreless innings vs. Boston on Opening Day.

“I feel like I’m in a good spot," Abbott said. "Obviously, there are improvements to make, there’s things to kind of go back over, re-watch, re-learn. But for the most part, I’m doing what I meant to do in the spring."