Cincinnati Reds welcomes back a key component to their rotation on Saturday night when they host Pittsburgh Pirates in the second competition in a three-game series.
Left-hander Andrew Abbott (10-10, 3.72 ERA 2024) has worked his way back from a rotator cuff trunk in his left shoulder. He will be reintroduced from the 15-day injured list and make his season debut on Saturday.
Abbott made two starts on a rehabilitation assignment for Triple-A Louisville, which enabled four runs of 10 meeting-incurring three Homers over 10 rounds, went five and knocking out eight.
Abbott was 0-1 with a 2.57 era in two spring training starts, which allowed two runs and four hits over seven rounds and held opponents to a 0.077 slag average.
Abbott started its last start 2024 on August 18 against Kansas City. Five days later, he was placed on the 15-day injured list with a left shoulder trunk and did not beat for the rest of the season.
The rear end of the Cincinnati Pitching staff has been impressive, with Emilio Pagan transformation of all three rescue chances, including Friday night’s 5-3 victory over Pirates. Converted Starter Graham Ashcraft entered Friday’s game in seventh and threw two speechless innings and set the table for pagan.
“We said in the bull, the training wheels are officially off with Graham and Bullpen,” Pagan said about Ashcraft. “He has gone several (innings) three times this week. It’s not easy to do at all.
“And in my opinion, (Friday) was the best his stuff has been, which is a credit to where he is physically, how well he repeats his delivery. And you can see the confidence is the kind of sky rocket. How he is thrown is an absolute weapon for us, and we are happy to have him.”
The Pirates will counteract on Saturday with their second straight left hand in Andrew Heaney (0-0, 1.50 era), which will make their third start of the season.
In his recent excursion, Heaney knocked out 10 as he allowed a seven round run on Sunday against the New York Yankees. But he got away with a decision on the team’s 5-4, 11-inning Walk-off victory.
Heaney will make his third career start against the reds, and the first since April 17, 2022, when he threw six speechless innings, knocked out 11 and got the victory in a 9-1 victory for Los Angeles Dodgers.
The pirates suffer through an injury with two important positions.
Started Shortstop Oneil Cruz missed his second straight game Friday after being hit by a pitch on his left hand by Steven Matz on Wednesday afternoon. On Friday, Catcher Joey Bart came out in the second round with the lower back discomfort.
Endy Rodriguez moved from the first base to Catcher for the rest of the game and committed a throwing error at a wild pitch in the third inning that resulted in two runs. That game turned out to be the difference in the game.
Rodriguez, who missed the whole of 2024 as he recovered from Tommy John operation on his right elbow, has made four errors this season.
“I think right now, a bit of it is that we see that he has missed a few years,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. “He is also really athletic and tries to do a few things. It’s just slowing him down. I would rather lower him back than push him forward. We just have to make sure we keep talking about these things with him.”
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