Power hitting AND gutsy pitching? Reds check every box in 1st home sweep

CINCINNATI -- Power and pitching are leading the Reds on what they hope could be a magical late-season run.

Both were on prominent display in Thursday’s 6-5 win over the Athletics, a third straight one-run win that completed Cincinnati’s first home series sweep of the year.

Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart belted two of Cincinnati’s four solo homers while Andrew Abbott earned his first win since June 20. It was Cincinnati’s ninth game this season with at least four home runs, matching Atlanta for most in the Majors. The nine games of at least four long balls also tied for second-most in a season by the Reds in franchise history. The 2021 club had 11 such games.

But all of that wouldn’t mean much if they didn’t get the gutsy effort from Abbott. The lefty allowed three runs and seven hits over 6 2/3 innings on four days' rest instead of his standard five.

“I thought he pitched really well,” Reds skipper Terry Francona said. “When your starters get that deep, when you're into the seventh, and I think he could have gone on. When your pitchers go that deep, you can start trying to match up a little bit, and when they go five, you can't do that.”

Abbott (6-7) struck out four and walked two while giving the Reds another quality start to finish their 7-3 homestand. The Reds, who are 13-6 since the All-Star break, earned just their third series sweep of the season, and first since taking all three at Minnesota from April 17-19. Pierce Johnson and Sam Moll combined to hold the A’s scoreless in the seventh and eighth before Brock Burke surrendered a two-run homer in the ninth.

When it became clear that Hunter Greene would not be making Thursday’s start due to his sore elbow, Francona and interim pitching coach Matt Tracy spoke to Abbott about skipping his typical bullpen in between starts to get ready.

“I really just wanted to give the bullpen as much of a break as possible because it's tough throwing a night game at 6:40 and turning around and throwing in the same game at 12:40 the next day,” Abbott said. “So, that's what I told Tito, and I was like, ‘I'm ready to go.’ It's a normal five-day rest for me. I don't need the six, so just use me.’”

Tyler Stephenson and JJ Bleday also connected for home runs, giving Cincinnati 150 on the season. The Reds are on pace for 215 home runs this season.

“What I care about is us having a good approach, and I think, with good hitters, the byproduct will be extra-base hits, whether it's a double or triple with some of the guys that can run, or home runs. That's what I really care about,” Francona said.

Bleday’s home run came against the team that non-tendered him last offseason, with the Reds picking him up in free agency and signing him to a one-year contract. On Thursday, his shot to right-center in the seventh was the difference. Bleday acknowledged there was a little extra juice in circling the bases for his 20th homer of the season against his former team.

“Yeah, for sure. I mean, there's always going to be nerves, awkwardness, whatever you want to call it, with those situations,” Bleday said. “But, right now, I’m happy to be a Red. I wake up and thank God every day I'm in Cincinnati. And we're playing good baseball right now. So that was the main thing, just showing up ready to play, and we did a good job in doing that.”

Bleday is now an integral part of a lineup that features five batters with double-digit home run numbers and De La Cruz on the brink of giving the Reds three with 20 or more.

De La Cruz opened the scoring in the first when he drove Barnett’s changeup to the seats in left for an opposite-field leadoff blast, his 19th homer of the season. It was his second leadoff homer this season and the fourth of his career, his first since July 21 at Seattle.

After the A’s took a 3-1 lead against Abbott in the fourth, the Reds got even in the bottom of the inning on solo homers from Stewart and Tyler Stephenson. For Stewart, it was home run No. 25, pushing him past Joey Votto for second-place on the all-time rookie home run leaderboard. Frank Robinson holds the all-time mark of 38 in 1956.