Dateline: Cincinnati
Andrew Abbott was frustrated by his spring training performance.
After his last outing he allowed seven earned runs in three innings. A lot of them were not hit very hard but eluded infielders. At least that was the positive spin the left hander put on it.
“I was locating pretty well in the first inning. I got some soft contact which found holes. I just didn't make pitches when I had to. We talked about getting more groundballs and we've done that. To this point they haven't been to our guys. There is nothing wrong with it. It is still soft contact. I think I gave up two hit balls over 95. I'm doing what I need to do. It's just luck of the draw. Today was not a good day.". I got some soft contact which found holes. I just didn't make pitches when I had to. We talked about getting more groundballs and we've done that. To this point they haven't been to our guys. There is nothing wrong with it. It is still soft contact. I think I gave up two hit balls over 95. I'm doing what I need to do. It's just luck of the draw. Today was not a good day."
His job against the Minnesota Twins is to get ground balls to cooperate and go to his fielders.
Abbott pitched a scoreless six innings against the Boston Red Sox as the opening day starter.
He goes into the game Saturday (041826) with an 0-2 record and 5.85 ERA.
The Reds will face 25-year old right hander, Taj Bradley.
Bradley was taken by the Tampa Bay Rays in the fifth round of the 2018 draft out of Reagan High School in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
He came to the Twins in July of last year in a trade for Griffin Jax.
In his last start against the Toronto Blue Jays he allowed one run in five innings on five hits. His downfall was four walks that prevented his third consecutive quality start. Prior to that he pitched six innings and 6 1/3 innings and allowed a total of one run.
The lineup facing Bradley is:
TJ Friedl CF
Will Benson LF
Elly De La Cruz SS
Sal Stewart 2B
Eugenio Suarez DH
Nathaniel Lowe 1B
Tyler Stephenson C
Rece Hinds RF
Ke’Bryan Hayes 3B
Abbott will try to induce ground balls from:
Byron Buxton DH
Austin Martin RF
Josh Bell 1B
Ryan Jeffers C
Luke Keaschall 3B
Trevor Larnach LF
Brooks Lee SS
Ryan Kreidler CF
Triston Gray 3B
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