This game had it all. Andrew Abbott had another strong start as he continues his turn-around, the offense did their part, the bullpen for both clubs had some real issues, and Cincinnati’s defense put up numerous highlight reel plays. When the final out was recorded the Reds had barely hung on for a 7-6 win over the Guardians to open up the weekend series in Cleveland.
FinalRHECincinnati Reds (24-21)7110Cleveland Guardians (24-22)680W: Abbott (3-2) L: Bibee (0-6) SV: Antone (1)Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread
Cincinnati got the scoring started in this on in the top of the 2nd inning. JJ Bleday led off with a double. Spencer Steer then picked up an infield single after the Reds challenged the call at first base and got the on-field call overturned. Nathaniel Lowe then singled up the middle to load the bases. Cleveland pitcher Tanner Bibee then issued a bases juiced walk to Matt McLain to bring in the first run of the game. Tyler Stephenson followed up with a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 2-0.
Andrew Abbott worked around a walk in the 1st inning. Now with a lead he had to work around two baserunners in the 2nd. He had to then do the same in the 3rd, but found a way to do so. The lefty had a clean bottom of the 4th inning. And then in the top of the 5th his offense gave him another run to work with after Ke’Bryan Hayes singled and then scored when Elly De La Cruz doubled off of the in right-cneter with two outs.
Cleveland would get a single in the 5th, but just like the rest of the game they were shut down by Andrew Abbott and came up empty. He returned for the 6th but on the 6th pitch of the inning to Rhys Hoskins the ball left his hand and the Hoskins crushed it down the line for a home run to make it 3-1. At 90 pitches, Cincinnati made the move to end the day for Abbott and bring in Pierce Johnson, who got through the rest of the inning unscathed.
After Tony Santillan tossed a scoreless 7th inning the Reds headed back to the plate for the 8th inning. JJ Bleday was called out on strikes, but he challenged the called third strike and got it overturned. He took advantage of that and doubled later in the at-bat. Spencer Steer then followed him with a single that put another run o the board to extend the visiting club’s lead to three runs. They weren’t done yet as Matt McLain came up with one out and he hit one out for a 2-run homer to make it 6-1.
The bottom of the inning went to Graham Ashcraft and things did not go well for the righty. He walked the bases loaded to begin the frame without throwing a single strike. Ashcraft then got ahead 0-2 on Travis Bazzana before the Cleveland rookie singled into center to bring in a run. That ended Ashcraft’s day as manager Terry Francona headed to the mound and brought in Brock Burke from the bullpen.
After striking out the first batter he faced on three pitches, Burke proceeded to walk the next batter on four pitches to bring in a run. He threw more pitches to the next batter, but walked in another run to make it 6-4. Cleveland would tack on another run when Jose Ramirez scored on a sacrifice fly. Burke would hold onto the lead, barely, with a shallow fly ball to left that ended the inning.
Dane Myers led off the top of the 9th with a double. Two groundouts would move him up a base each, with JJ Bleday’s bringing in a run to make it 7-5 and give the bullpen an extra run to work with.
Tejay Antone came in to try and close the game out. He would get a pop up to begin the frame but Kyle Manzardo tripled off of the glove of Dane Myers in center right before he crashed into the wall. Manzardo would score on a groundout that followed to make it a 1-run game. Travis Bazzana then scorched a ball towards right field but Matt McLain made a diving stop on the ball on one hop deep into the outfield grass and popped up to throw to first to beat Bazzana by a step to end the game.
Key Moment of the Game
Matt McLain’s diving play to end the game.
Notes Worth Noting
JJ Bleday hit in the spring. He hit in Triple-A. And he hasn’t stopped hitting since joining the Reds in late April. He’s hitting .346/.465/.776 in his 17 games with Cincinnati after picking up three hits for the second straight day. He had two homers on Thursday and came back with two doubles on Friday. He’s driven in a run in his last five games and 12 runs in those five games.
Matt McLain is heating up. He didn’t hit in April. And he began May by going 0-13 to begin the month. But since May 6th he’s hit .367/.457/.733 with five extra-base hits, five walks, and just three strikeouts in nine games. He’s had a hit in eight of those nine games and in the one game he went without a hit he walked twice and drove in a run.
Andrew Abbott threw 21.2 shutout innings in a row before giving up the 6th inning home run to Rhys Hoskins. After a very rough start to the year where his ERA was 6.59 after six starts, he’s allowed just three runs over his last four games and his ERA is down to 4.21 on the season.
Tejay Antone picked up the save in the game. It was his first save since May 30, 2021.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Cleveland Guardians
Saturday May 16th, 6:10pm ET
Chris Paddack (0-5, 7.63) vs Gavin Williams (5-3, 3.74 ERA)
