Andrew Abbott strikes out 12 batters

CINCINNATI – Reds rookie with six major league appearances, Andrew Abbott shares his resume. For most shooters, it usually doesn’t seem that mainstream early on.

“He’s progressing like he’s been here for a long time,” said Reds’ Luke Miley.

Abbott is already the best starter in the Cincinnati rotation and the go-to man for what is shaping up to be a tight division race. The left-hander pitched a sensational 7 2/3 innings without a decision. The Reds were bolstered by hard hitting Tyler Stephenson, scoring twice in the eighth for a 4-3 win over the Padres on Sunday at Great American Ball Park.

“Today, he definitely succeeded in everything,” said Reds coach David Bell. “He really showed who he is. Today was probably his best start.” “Going deeper into this game is a great start to his career.”

The win gave the Reds the win in two of their three games against San Diego for their seventh win in their last eight games. At 45-39, they also remain tied for first place with the Brewers in the NL Central run.

Here’s more of what Abbott has done:

Does any of this surprise Abbott?

“No. I think it’s all the hard work we all put in,” Abbott replied confidently. “We all got here. I kept telling myself, ‘Getting here is the dream, but staying here is the lifestyle you want.’ You want to get in and do your hard work.” Every day, then put your head down and go.”

In, out, up, down. Abbott varied his paces and used his four-seam fastball, sweep, curveball and changeup effectively in all four quarters of the plate with 101 pitches (66 strikeouts).

“Obviously he’s really good,” Miley said, “but it’s the power of being able to throw four pitches in the zone when you want to. That’s probably what caught my eye.”

Early on, Abbott hit Padres key players Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts in the first inning and Fernando Tatis Jr. in the third with high and outfield fastballs. Later, he used off-pace pitches in the area for the other strikes.

When I have four [pitches] It was all in the hit zone, it kind of gives them a 25 percent chance, if they’re guessing, to get it right. it, and that was it.”

The Padres hit back-to-back one-hit singles against Abbott in the top of the first inning before left batters pulled the next 15 in a row.

Abbott took a shutout in the eighth inning.

“The way he was pitching made it very easy,” Bell said of the decision to field Abbott for the eighth game after 92 pitches.

After Abbott struck out the first two batters of the eighth, Ha-Seong Kim hit a fastball on the first pitch to leave the field for a homer.

Abbott received a standing ovation from the 37,714 fans in the stadium. But reliever Lucas Simms took over, and Tatis tied the game up with his homer to leave room for a chorus of boos.

Pinch-hitting for Joey Votto, Stephenson came up with his first pitch, a two-run homer to right field in the bottom of the eighth.

“What he did today was amazing,” Stephenson said of Abbott. “It was so much fun seeing what he was doing, and yeah, he’s feeling himself right now.”