Athletics at Cincinnati Reds

Power and pitching are leading the Reds on what they hope could be a magical late-season run. Both were on prominent display in Thursday’s 6-5 win over the Athletics, a third straight one-run win that completed Cincinnati’s first home series sweep of the year. Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart belted two of Cincinnati’s four solo homers while Andrew Abbott earned his first win since June 20. It was Cincinnati’s ninth game this season with at least four home runs, matching Atlanta for most in the Majors. The nine games of at least four long balls also tied for second-most in a season by the Reds in franchise history. The 2021 club had 11 such games. But all of that wouldn’t mean much if they didn’t get the gutsy effort from Abbott. The lefty allowed three runs and seven hits over 6 2/3 innings on four days' rest instead of his standard five. “I thought he pitched really well,” Reds skipper Terry Francona said. “When your starters get that deep, when you're into the seventh, and I think he could have gone on. When your pitchers go that deep, you can start trying to match up a little bit, and when they go five, you can't do that.” Abbott (6-7) struck out four and walked two while giving the Reds another quality start to finish their 7-3 homestand. The Reds, who are 13-6 since the All-Star break, earned just their third series sweep of the season, and first since taking all three at Minnesota from April 17-19. Pierce Johnson and Sam Moll combined to hold the A’s scoreless in the seventh and eighth before Brock Burke surrendered a two-run homer in the ninth. When it became clear that Hunter Greene would not be making Thursday’s start due to his sore elbow, Francona and interim pitching coach Matt Tracy spoke to Abbott about skipping his typical bullpen in between starts to get ready. “I really just wanted to give the bullpen as much of a break as possible because it's tough throwing a night game at 6:40 and turning around and throwing in the same game at 12:40 the next day,” Abbott said. “So, that's what I told Tito, and I was like, ‘I'm ready to go.’ It's a normal five-day rest for me. I don't need the six, so just use me.’”