After a tough looking spring training Andrew Abbott flipped the switch to regular season mode and threw six shutout innings for the Cincinnati Reds on Opening Day. Unfortunately for him he was matched and more by the Boston Red Sox pitching who combined for a 4-hit shutout in a 3-0 win to begin the season.
FinalRHEBoston Red Sox (1-0)3121Cincinnati Reds (0-1)040W: Crochet (1-0) L: Johnson (0-1) SV: Chapman (1)Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread
Andrew Abbott and Garrett Crochet were both sending zeroes up to the scoreboard through the first four innings of the game. But the Red Sox were threatening in the top of the 5th inning when they had two infield hits with one out. The second one was a 110.2 MPH line drive that hit Sal Stewart in the forearm and led to him being checked out by the trainer, but he remained in the game. Abbott had runners on first and second that he had to try and work around and he came back to strike out Trevor Story and Jarren Duran to strand both of them.
In the bottom of the inning the Reds offense got a little something going when Matt McLain drew a 1-out walk. Elly De La Cruz followed up with a single into center – just the second hit of the day for Cincinnati. Sal Stewart then lined a single into right field to load the bases. But just like in the top of the inning, the next two batters struck out to strand the runners on the bases and the game remained scoreless.
The Reds turned the game over to Pierce Johnson to begin the 7th inning. He gave up a leadoff double to Marcelo Meyer. A sacrifice bunt moved him up to third base and then he scored on a Ceddanne Rafaela single back up the middle to put Boston up 1-0. Johnson faced three batters, threw nine pitches, gave up a run and was then replaced as a call to the bullpen brought left-hander Sam Moll to the mound. He struck out Roman Anthony on three pitches and then got a ground out to end the inning.
The Red Sox also went to the bullpen to begin the 7th inning and they turned to Justin Slaten. He would walk Tyler Stephenson to begin the inning. Terry Francona pulled Noelvi Marte and sent lefty Will Benson to the plate to try and get the better match up against the right-handed reliever even though Marte had an OPS of .821 against righties last year and Benson was just at .708 against them in 2025 and the pitcher himself is better against lefties. The move didn’t work out as Benson struck out. Slaten got out of the inning with a fly out and a strikeout to hold onto a 1-0 lead.
Sam Moll and Graham Ashcraft combined to keep Boston off the board in the top of the 8th inning. Sal Stewart tried to get something going in the Reds half of the inning with a 2-out ground-rule double but he was stranded there when Eugenio Suarez struck out to end the inning.
Connor Phillips took over in the 9th for the home team. He gave up a leadoff single before retiring the next two batters. He got a called strike three to end the inning, but Roman Anthony challenged the call and won. That turned strike three into ball four and extended the inning and moved the runner up. Two pitches later Trevor Story lined a single into left field to bring in a run and extend the Red Sox lead to 2-0. That ended the day for Phillips as Brock Burke took over. The first pitch he threw broke of Jarren Duran, but he got enough of it to loop it into shallow right field for an RBI single. He’d get Willson Contreras to pop up to end the top of the frame.
Aroldis Chapman entered the game in the bottom of the 9th to face his former team. He would get three fly outs to seal the game for Boston.
Key Moment of the Game
Ceddanne Rafaela coming through with an RBI single in the 7th inning that put the Red Sox up 1-0. It turned out to be the only run Boston would need on the day.
Notes Worth Noting
Andrew Abbott didn’t allow a run in 6.0 innings. He did give up seven hits but four of those never left the infield. He recorded seven groundouts and only had one fly ball out on the day.
Sal Stewart had three hits, including two doubles. The rest of the team had one hit (Elly De La Cruz) in 28 at-bats. Stewart is the first Reds rookie to record three hits on Opening Day.
The pitching staff as a whole recorded 11 outs on grounders and just two of them on fly balls.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Boston Red Sox vs Cincinnati Reds
Saturday March 28th, 4:10pm ET
Sonny Gray (14-8, 4.28 ERA in 2025) vs Brady Singer (14-12, 4.03 ERA in 2025)
