CINCINNATI -- The Reds seemingly had the perfect guy on the mound to break the spell of losing series to the Brewers in hot-handed lefty Andrew Abbott.
Coming off a May in which he posted a 0.55 ERA in six starts, Abbott's momentum instead hit a speedbump on Wednesday afternoon as he gave up a pair of two-run home runs during a 9-1 Reds loss at Great American Ball Park. Milwaukee claimed two of three games in the series.
“A couple of mistakes. He’s pitching with so much confidence, and I think he still will," manager Terry Francona said. "He just made two mistakes, and it was four runs."
Cincinnati has dropped each of its past 12 series vs. the Brewers, 13 of the past 14 and 16 of the past 18 dating back to 2021.
“They’re tough," Abbott said of the Brewers. "They play very clean baseball all the way around. They do the little things right to win the games. I do think sitting and watching them play and the way that they play against us is a good thing to learn, like what it takes to win. … They have beaten us, but eventually it will turn around -- hopefully.”
Over six innings and 100 pitches (72 strikes), Abbott allowed a season-high five earned runs and seven hits with one walk and six strikeouts. His ERA jumped from 1.51 to 2.18.
It was just the second time in 10 starts this season -- and the first time since April 25 at Colorado -- that Abbott gave up more than one run in a game.
With two outs in the third inning, Abbott surrendered a double to Brice Turang, followed by a single to Andruw Monasterio for the first Brewers run. With two outs and one on in the fifth inning, Jackson Chourio hit the first pitch to right field for a two-run homer.
Following a leadoff walk from Abbott in the sixth inning, Daz Cameron hit a full-count pitch to left field for a two-run homer and a 5-1 deficit for the Reds.
“It was just two pitches. A cutter that didn’t move that was middle of the plate to Chourio, and then a changeup up to Cameron," Abbott said. "In all fairness, they should hit those a long way. They didn’t miss them. They put some good swings on it."
Abbott said that pitching coach Derek Johnson called his performance a "perspective game" because of the things he did well.
“Obviously, it’s going to be a loss and the five runs you give up. Underneath all of that, I had the best [velocity] of the year, all my stuff has ticked up," Abbott said. "I threw nearly 70 strikes out of 100 pitches. Just little things that if you’re looking at the first few starts of the year, I didn’t have, and to where we are right now. Hopefully you can continue to translate and continue to improve on that, and the results will follow.”
On Tuesday, Brewers manager Pat Murphy said he watched Abbott's past two outings as part of his prep for this series.
"I think he's way more confident," Murphy said. "He's OK with throwing three [straight] changeups. He's OK with throwing the sweeper/breaking ball, or whatever he's calling it, for a strike. Changeup, strike, fastball up, changeup. I think his sequencing is good. I think he's become a complete pitcher. He's nasty. This Reds rotation is really, really good. Like, really good."
Against Milwaukee lefty opener DL Hall and right-hander Quinn Priester, Cincinnati’s offense couldn't put much together. The Reds had the bases loaded with one out in the third inning and left them stranded on their way to going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
In fourth place in the National League Central with a 30-33 record as their rivals pull away, the Reds have had trouble notching back-to-back wins and taking winnable series. Since a five-game win streak ended on May 20, they've won back-to-back games once -- on May 26-27 at Kansas City.
“It is frustrating," said catcher Jose Trevino, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles and one run scored. "The expectation of our team is to win. Everybody in this clubhouse, we expect to win. We want to win. We’re here to win. When we can’t stack up those W’s, yeah it’s frustrating.”