Andrew Abbott’s first career complete game was a three-hit shutout of the Guardians in a 1-0 Reds win Tuesday.
Abbott gave up a walk and a single in the ninth, but there was a double play ball in between them. With two outs, Carlos Santana hit a high fastball to deep left, but it was caught at the wall. Abbott’s velocity was up about one mph from his season average tonight and closer to two mph in the earlier innings before fading some; he hit 94 mph 13 times in the first two innings and then never again. It seems like a trend; that he averaged around 91 mph in his April starts didn’t hold him back, but it definitely worried us some and it’s really encouraging that he’s been up to 93 mph lately. He’s still an extreme flyball pitcher working in one of MLB’s top home run parks half of the time, so he’s not going to come close to maintaining his current 1.87 ERA the rest of the way. Still, Nick Martinez’s ability to generate soft contact seems to have rubbed off on him. He’ll probably make his next start against the Twins on Tuesday. The Reds could bring him back on normal rest Sunday, but that seems less likely after the 110-pitch outing tonight.