Andrew Abbott allowed one hit over seven shutout innings to lead the visiting Cincinnati Reds to a 6-2 win against the Chicago Cubs in the opener of their three-game series on Friday afternoon.
Abbott (5-0) struck out eight and walked one while lowering his ERA to 1.51 against a Chicago offense that came in averaging an MLB-leading 5.9 runs per game.
TJ Friedl, Tyler Stephenson and Jake Fraley homered, Gavin Lux had two hits and an RBI and Will Benson had two hits and two runs scored for the Reds, who have won three of four.
Abbott went up against Cubs right-hander Colin Rea for the second time in a week and Rea (3-2) again took the loss after surrendering six runs and 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out three and walked two.
Abbott allowed one run and six hits in 5 2/3 innings of a 6-4 win against the Cubs last Saturday, while Rea was tagged for six runs and seven hits in five innings.
Friedl hit the third pitch of the game over the fence in right for a 1-0 lead.
Elly De La Cruz lined the first pitch he saw from Rea into the left-center field gap for a double. Lux then dropped an RBI single into right-center field to score De La Cruz for a 2-0 lead.
Stephenson launched a two-run homer to straightaway center in the fourth to stretch the lead to 4-0, and Fraley hit a two-run shot in the sixth to make it 6-0.
Tony Santillan replaced Abbott to start the eighth and gave up a one-out double to Nico Hoerner, followed by a triple to center by Michael Busch to cut the lead to 6-1.
Matt Shaw then delivered an RBI single to further trim the deficit to 6-2. After a walk to Ian Happ, Santillan was pulled in favor of Graham Ashcraft, who got Kyle Tucker to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Doubles by Seiya Suzuki and Pete Crow-Armstrong in the ninth put runners on second and third with one out. Emilio Pagan replaced Ashcraft and struck out Dansby Swanson and then got Hoerner to ground out to short to earn his 14th save.
–Field Level Media
