NEW YORK – Even after losing to the Mets on Wednesday, Reds starting pitcher Andrew Abbott wasn't deterred from believing he's still well on the right track after a rough beginning to 2026.
Had the Cincinnati lineup cashed in numerous opportunities – instead of stranding a season-high 17 men on base – Abbott might have been in the win column. Instead the lefty was on the wrong side of a 4-2 defeat at Citi Field that snapped a three-game win streak and prevented a sweep of the Mets.
“Abbott gave us a great chance to win," Reds manager Terry Francona said.
Abbott got a quality start despite not getting a desired outcome. While throwing a season-high 101 pitches, he gave up three runs (two earned) over six innings with five hits, one walk and four strikeouts.
After he was 0-2 with a 6.59 ERA over his first six starts, Abbott is 4-1 with a 1.59 ERA over his last six. That includes a 1.29 ERA in five May starts.
“Just got to keep going," Abbott said. "Obviously I wasn’t throwing the way I wanted to but I’m not going to sit here and make excuses. I just had to get in the lab, figure things out and then don’t change the routine of the process and definitely don’t lose confidence in yourself."
Over the first four innings, Abbott retired 12 of 14 batters but gave up Juan Soto's solo homer to right field on a 1-1 curveball in the first inning and Eric Wagaman's solo drive to left field off a 1-0 fastball. Both came with two outs.
“I think I missed two spots early on and got punished for it. That’s going to happen," Abbott said. "But I feel like I rebounded well. I was winning the counts. First-pitch strikes were a big win today and overall strike percentage was pretty good. I made pitches when I had to and ultimately, I gave the team a chance. That’s all you can ask. That’s all I want to do, anyway."
When Abbott opened with his fastball, he threw first-pitch strikes to 11-of-13 batters -- and 17-of-24 overall. Mets hitters still worked long at-bats and at times, made hard contact.
“They made him work," Francona said. "Most of their lineup is probably better against lefties and that’s just the way they’re built. I thought he pitched pretty good.”
In the fifth inning -- with two outs -- Brett Baty hit a tailing ball that took an in-between hop on Elly De La Cruz. The shortstop tried a backhanded snag, but the ball skipped off his glove for an error. After Luis Torrens followed with a single, Abbott had Carson Benge in an 0-2 count, but couldn't finish him. Benge worked a full count and on the eighth pitch, hit an RBI single to center field to give the Mets a 3-1 lead.
“I told [pitching coach Derek Johnson] I’d rather get beat on my best pitch, and that was my heater," Abbott said. "That’s why we shook to it and got to the heater, and it was well located. [Benge] just pulled his hands in and put a good swing on it. I think the biggest thing is I didn’t allow it to snowball. There wasn’t a three or four-run inning. Limiting them to one kept us in the game all the way to the very end.”
The Reds' lineup never went three-up, three-down all night and gave Mets pitchers plenty of drama without the big hit. A bases-loaded chance in the sixth inning resulted in only one run when Sal Stewart hustled on a grounder to third base for an RBI infield single.
In the ninth inning, embattled Mets closer Devin Williams walked the bases loaded with one out but escaped by striking out Dane Myers and Blake Dunn to end the game.
"That’s one of those where until we walked in, I thought we were going to win," Francona said.
Cincinnati (29-26) gets a day off before opening a three-game series at home vs. the National League's best club, the Braves. But the Reds have won five of seven while getting three straight strong starts from the rotation and a decent series from the bullpen that has spent much of May struggling.
Nick Lodolo gave up one run over six innings in Monday's 7-2 win. For Tuesday's 7-2 win, Chase Burns gave up two runs and struck out eight over 5 1/3 innings. The bullpen gave up two runs over 8 2/3 innings.
And things are still trending upwards for Abbott.
“I had a good month of May and now it’s about turning the page and focusing on the next one," he said.