Andrew Abbott aims to shut down Brewers like he’s Prohibition

Left-hander Andrew Abbott hit the ground running when he finally joined the Cincinnati Reds in early June. Through his first 6 starts, he was positively historic - just 5 ER yielded through 37.1 IP, with a minuscule .481 OPS against him and 42 K in that time. Considering he’d entered the big leagues as the 2023 MiLB leader in total K, he’d been on a roll for quite a long damn time.

That came to an abrupt halt on July 7th, however, when he was tagged for more ER (6) in that one start than he’d allowed on the season as a whole. That start, you’ll recall, came in Milwaukee against the Brewers.

The Cincinnati Reds play host to those Brewers again today, and it’ll be Abbott’s turn to get some revenge on his NL Central rivals, rivals who have worked their way back into a tie for 1st place in the division with the Reds with dualing 50-42 overall records.

The Reds offense will need to get back in gear for even Abbott’s best to be of any use, seeing as they’ve been shut out by Milwaukee pitching in back to back games. To do so, the Reds will need to feast on a Freddy Peralta that’s not quite the same dominating guy as he’d been from 2020-2022, the guy who posted a 3.02 FIP/3.18 ERA across 251.2 IP in that span. Despite seeing a spike of nearly 2 mph on his 4-seam fastball year over year, Peralta has struggled to keep the ball in the park at all this year, his 16.0% HR/FB rate both a career worst and a significant spike from the 7.1% mark he posted just last year.

That sounds like a Jake Fraley/Joey Votto kind of game if I’ve ever heard of one. Maybe even Elly De La Cruz will get back to looking like his unstoppable self with that kind of meatball opportunity on the mound.

First pitch is set for 7:10 PM ET. Expect GABP to be packed and loud once again.

Reds Lineup

Brewers Lineup