CINCINNATI -- It wasn't the day Andrew Abbott wanted or the Reds needed as he faced the Angels on Sunday afternoon looking for a series win.
Here are four things that stood out from a 9-6 loss at Great American Ball Park after Cincinnati dropped two of three games to Los Angeles and four out of its last five overall.
Angels rack up hits on Abbott
Although he didn't give up many hard hits, Abbott didn't miss bats either as the Angels sprayed hits. Over three-plus innings, the left-hander gave up seven earned runs and eight hits with two walks and one strikeout.
Abbott gave up four grounders out of 15 batted balls but his overall groundball rate has jumped from 32.9 percent in 2025 to 51.2 percent in '26. Entering the day, he had the third-highest jump in grounders allowed in baseball.
“Something we talked about in Spring Training was trying to induce groundballs," Abbott said. "... There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s still soft contact. I think I gave up two batted balls over 95 [mph]. So I’m doing what I need to do. It’s just luck of the draw and today was not a good day.”
The Angels, who collected five hits during Abbott's 28-pitch first inning, had a 5-0 lead through two innings. Three two-out knocks, including a bases-loaded, two-run single to left field by Nolan Schanuel, in addition to a Logan O'Hoppe RBI single to center field, stung. Mike Trout hit an RBI double to left field and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jorge Soler in the second inning.
In the top of the fourth inning, Oswald Peraza led off by hitting a first-pitch changeup for a home run to left field.
“I threw three changeups to start him off with three AB’s. The third one he hammered," Abbott said. "Major League hitters are going to make the adjustment.”
Of the 35 swings the Angels took against Abbott, only eight were whiffs. He hasn't been using or executing his sweeper as much this season.
"I think it’s more of a trust thing. I’ve hung more than I used to," Abbott said.
Through his four starts, Abbott is 0-2 with a 5.85 ERA. While allowing 26 hits over his 20 innings, opponents are batting .321 against him this season. Over his first nine starts of 2025, he had a 1.55 ERA.
“First inning, he just couldn’t get the last out," manager Terry Francona said. "He yanked a couple of fastballs and paid for it. I didn’t really think he was throwing the ball that bad. He started spinning it better the second inning, which was good."
Nicolas gives important length
Recalled from Triple-A Louisville on Friday, reliever Kyle Nicolas struggled in his Reds debut with three-earned runs, two hits, two walks, one strikeout and a Soler grand slam during a 10-2 loss in the opener. Back to pitch on Sunday, Nicolas replaced Abbott in the fourth inning and issued back-to-back four-pitch walks to his first two batters and later, a wild pitch.
Important for bullpen preservation in a down game, Nicolas returned for the fifth inning and despite opening with a single and a walk, he retired the rest of the side in order while not allowing another run.
“I thought that was really good for him," Francona said. "One, we were in danger of not knowing how we were going to finish the game. We were one hitter away from putting PJ [Higgins, the catcher] back in there to pitch."
Offense blanked by Soriano
After the Cincinnati offense broke out Saturday with some early runs during a 7-3 win, it was unable to put much together against Angels ace Jose Soriano over his seven shutout innings with two hits, three walks and 10 strikeouts.
Getting down by a big deficit early is always suboptimal, but even more so against the hottest pitcher in baseball. In four starts, Soriano is 4-0 with a 0.33 ERA with one run allowed over 27 innings. The right-hander retired nine of his first 10 before giving up his first hit -- a Matt McLain single to center field leading off the bottom of the fourth inning.
“He kind of came as advertised," Francona said.
De La Cruz homers again from right side
As Angels relievers scuffled over the final two innings, including three walks in the eighth, the Reds scored six runs. Elly De La Cruz's three-run home run to right field against lefty Drew Pomeranz with two outs in the ninth trimmed the deficit. Of his five homers De La Cruz has hit this season, four have been right-handed in only 22 at-bats.
Last season, De La Cruz had five homers in 199 right-handed at-bats and 22 overall.