Reds Beaten In All Phases By Washington Nationals Fifth Straight Defeat

The angry Washington Nationals won their 10th game in the last 15 in a 7-3 win over the Reds. The Reds swept the Nationals in Washington last month. Former Red Dave Martinez and his crew did not take kindly to it.

The mastery of all three phases of the game eluded the Reds the first half of the game. The usually pinpoint command by left hander Andrew Abbott was absent. He walked five batters in the first four innings, the Reds made two fielding errors. Joan Aldon, who was recalled from Rochester to make this start struck out six of the first 12 Reds' batters in four perfect innings.

"Andrew Abbott has had a great start to his career," David Bell said. "He is going to go threw these things. He's going to make adjustments in the game. He's already shown that. He was walking guys early, really feeling for it. Then he went on and gave us everything he had. Unfortunately, you have to have games like that to get better."

The five-game losing streak doesn't concern Bell, who signed a contract extension last week through 2026.

"There is zero concern about this team," Bell said. "You just play hard and do it together and it turns around. Our team is continuing to do that. The results haven't been there the last five days. It tests you for sure. With who we have on this team, there is no concern."

Adon, who was 1-12 last season, took the place of Mason Thompson. He logged five innings in two start allowing three runs.

Abbott gutted out 5 2/3 innings without his good command. The five walks accompanied by nine hits allowed the Nationals to score six runs off the rookie. He tried to complete six and got two quick outs in his last inning but doubles by Joey Meneses and Keibert Ruiz ended his stint.

"It was one of those days in baseball when you don't have it," Abbott said. "Just realizing that I wasn't hitting spots, wasn't getting ahead of guys. I kind of switched modes from trying to dominate to trying to get the bullpen a little break."

The first 17 Reds went down before Luke Maile singled to break the spell. Elly De la Cruz scorched a ball off Adon's glove that trickled by for an infield single. TJ Friedl cut the Nationals' lead in half with his ninth home run.

"Andon was really deceptive," Friedl said. "He hides the ball for a long time, so you have a little less time to pick it up. It makes it hard to see and to make adjustments."

"From what I could see he (Andon) was attacking the zone, keeping us on the defensive," Bell said. "We didn't have a walk until late in the game. That's been part of our game, to go deep in the counts and get on base any way we can."

Back-to-back doubles by Riley Adams and Ildemaro Vargas off Daniel Duarte pushed the Reds out of  "slam" range. Votto due up fourth in the bottom of the ninth has twice hit walk-off grand slams against the Nationals. 

Kyle Finnegan retired the Reds in a scoreless ninth.