Dateline: Cincinnati
A struggling Andrew Abbott shed his misery and pitched six stron innings. Nathaniel Lowe homered and doubled to lead the Reds to a 6-4 win over the Colorado Rockies.
The Reds took the series and won their 20th game of the season.
Tyler Freeman hit his first home run of the season with Brenton Doyle on base from a walk as the Rockies jumped on Abbott for two first inning runs.
"He got into a nice rhythm, I agree," Terry Francona said. "Even in the first inning, give Freeman some credit. I just didn't think off the bat. This is one of the few ballparks, today, it's a home run. When it went up we thought it was an out. After that he became more like Abbott. He threw his fastball up a little bit better. He used his change up, better than he has and was very effective."
Abbott has tried a lot of things to get back to his All-Star form. Against the Rockies he was able to reap the rewards.
"It is vindication," Abbott said. "Ride the wave. It wasn't what I wanted it to be earlier but I'm the only one that can change that. Put your head down and keep working. I went back to my roots. I pitched out of big spots and made pitches when I needed too. I made one mistake in the game today but I will take six (innings) and two (runs), everytime."
"I think its a big tip to DJ and the bio mechanics staff. They did a deep dive on me. We figured out I'm standing a little more taller, I bent over last year. My arm angles up. We knocked out what we could. We're not going to focus 10 things at one time. We made slight adjustments in the game and the weekly throwing program. I felt really sound, today."
Nathaniel Lowe led off the second inning with his fifth home run to cut the lead in half.
Abbott pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the fifth inning. A ground single by Kyle Karros was followed by a bunt single by Ezequiel Tovar and a slow roller hit by Jordan Beck. Doyle hit a ground ball to Elly De La Cruz at shortstop, who forced Karros at home. Abbott struck out Hunter Goodman.
"We had (Pierce) Johnson up. They had a couple righties and they may have pinch hit. I just thought he was throwing the ball the way he should. He deserved to try to see if he could finish that inning," Francona said.
TJ Friedl gave the Reds the lead with his second home run with Spencer Steer, who walked on base.
"Timing you're down one, then TJ and all of a sudden you're up one. It changes the whole complexion of the game," Francona said. "We kindof stayed at it, I mean how many times, you make a mistake and it costs you a game."
Friedl has struggled early in the year but is starting to reach his normal performance at the plate.
"We hit a lot of balls hard, right at guys. That's just baseball," Friedl said. "I think its just sticking to the approach that we had. You know things are going to turn. The biggest thing is adding on. Once we got that lead. The eighth was huge. Today was a gritty win. There are days you gotta dig deep."
Abbott earned his second quality start and first since opening day by pitching six innings, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out five.
The Reds tacked on a run in the sixth. Lowe hit a one out double off Lorenzen. Steer singled him home against reliever Antonio Senzatela.
Connor Phillips took over in the seventh. He hit a batter and walked a batter but struck out three in a scoreless seventh.
"Part of the reason we brought him in was we thought, they'd probably unload their lefties," Francona said. "He can neutralize that with his spin."
Tony Santillan allowed a leadoff single to Freeman but picked him off to start a scoreless inning that ended with a called third strike with a successful challenge by catcher Tyler Stephenson.
The Reds added two more runs off Victor Vodnik in the eighth.
Sal Stewart walked. Stephenson's double sent him to third with one out. Stewart scored on a ground out by Dane Myers. Stephenson scored on a double by Steer.
Emilio Pagan entered in another non-save situation.
The two runs came in handy. The Rockies brought the tying run to the plate. With three singles and a sacrifice fly by Jake McCarthy, the Rockies had Goodman at the plate. Goodman had a pair of home runs on Wednesday night. Pagan retired him on a fly to left to seal the game.
"They got a couple of hits in the ninth. It ends up not being extra innings," Francona said.
The Reds are now 12-0 in games decided by two runs or fewer. The Reds are 16-1 when leading after six innings and 15-0 when leading after seven innings.
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