Andrew Abbott has pitched liked an Ace since he made his 2025 debut after missing the first few weeks of the season. On Tuesday night he put together the best start of his career as he threw a complete game shutout as the Cincinnati Reds won 1-0 over the Cleveland Guardians in a game full of defensive highlights.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (35-33) | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| Cleveland Guardians (34-32) | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| W: Abbott (6-1) L: Cecconi (1-3) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Neither team’s offense did a whole lot of anything until the top of the 4th inning. That’s when Gavin Lux and Elly De La Cruz had back-to-back 1-out singles, placing runners on the corners. Slade Cecconi, though, struck out the next two batters to strand both runners and keep the game scoreless. In the bottom of the 4th Cleveland tried to get something going when David Fry got into a long fly ball, but TJ Friedl made a running and leaping catch that took him into the wall for the first out of the inning much to the satisfaction of pitcher Andrew Abbott who raised his arm in appreciation for his center fielder.
Will Benson would lead off the top of the 5th with a double. This time Cecconi was unable to keep the shutout going as Spencer Steer lined a single into right-center to bring in the first run of the game.
Andrew Abbott, who had been matching his counterpart inning for inning, ended that when he tossed another shutout inning in the 5th to keep the Reds up 1-0. Two innings later he got another outstanding defensive play from one of his outfielders. This time it was Jake Fraley who tracked a line drive to his left and made a diving catch that Statcast gave a 5% catch probability on for the first out of the inning. Abbott took care of the next two hitters to hold onto the 1-run lead and send the game into the 8th.
Cincinnati would get a leadoff walk from Matt McLain and a single from TJ Friedl to begin their half of the inning. After Gavin Lux struck out, Cleveland intentionally walked Elly De La Cruz to load the bases. Christian Encarnacion-Strand then hit a fly ball into center and Matt McLain tagged up and took off for the plate but Nolan Jones caught the ball and fired a laser to the plate at 100.1 MPH and Bo Naylor caught it just in time to get McLain on a bang-bang play at the plate for an inning-ending double play.
The bottom of the 8th began with a ground out to third. But Johnathan Rodriguez followed with a chopper to shortstop that had Elly De La Cruz charging in and to his right and he made a throw from low to the ground and air-mailed the ball into the photographers well, getting Rodriguez not only on base but to second base on the play. Andrew Abbott bailed out his shortstop by getting a fly out to left and then striking out Angel Martinez to keep his shutout going through eight.
After the Reds failed to extend their lead in the top of the 9th, Andrew Abbott headed back to the mound with 90 pitches under his belt and a 1-0 lead facing the top of Cleveland’s lineup. The lefty walked Steven Kwan on five pitches to start the inning and then got a visit from catcher Tyler Stephenson for a quick chat. That brought David Fry to the plate and he got ahead 3-0 before taking a strike and then fouling off two pitches in a row. Abbott then got him to hit a grounder to shortstop that Elly De La Cruz fielded to his right and fired a laser to Matt McLain at second, who fired a laser of his own to first to turn a crucial double play. Jose Ramirez would line a single back up the middle to keep the game alive. Carlos Santana gave everyone a bit of a heart attack on a long fly ball to left, but Will Benson caught the ball for the final out of the game about a foot in front of the wall to seal a 1-0 win.
Key Moment of the Game
Andrew Abbott getting a double play in the bottom of the 9th inning.
Notes Worth Noting
Andrew Abbott moved to 6-1 on the season and lowered his ERA to 1.87. This was both his first shutout in the big leagues and his first complete game. He walked one batter and had five strikeouts, needing just 110 pitches to complete the victory.
Elly De La Cruz went 1-3 with a walk. He stole his 20th base of the season in the game. He was the only Reds hitter to reach base safely twice on the night.
The win moved the Reds to 5-0 against Cleveland this year. It also extended their winning streak to five games and moved them to two games above the .500 mark for the first time since they were 18-16 back on May 3rd.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Cleveland Guardians
Wednesday June 11th, 1:10pm ET
Nick Lodolo (4-4, 3.21 ERA) vs Logan Allen (3-4, 4.42 ERA)
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