Reds pitcher Andrew Abbott talks outing vs. Padres
Cincinnati Reds left-hander Andrew Abbott earned his first victory since July 9 with eight exceptional innings against the San Diego Padres Sept. 10.
SAN DIEGO – It’s not exactly the stuff of Paul Revere’s ride, but Cincinnati Reds veteran Nick Martinez was so emphatic about his profanity-laced declaration that nobody could eliminate the Reds that he doubled down the next night after the Reds beat the Padres in the late innings for the second straight game to win that series.
And then added a warning for the playoff field: “Watch out. The Redlegs are coming!”
After the worst 2 1/2 weeks of their season sent the Reds nose-diving to six games behind the New York Mets for the final National League playoff spot with 21 to play, the Reds have suddenly won four of five against the Mets and Padres to regain enough footing in the race that they’re back in bona fide chase mode.
That 3-11 skid and the flu bug that took out so many players and staff last week seems to be mostly behind them —along with the Diamondbacks, who had caught them in the standings until this recent burst.
As the Reds headed into their scheduled off day Thursday, they were tied with the San Francisco Giants in the wild-card race, just two games behind the Mets – who rode a five-game losing streak into their series finale against the Phillies Thursday.
The Reds certainly don’t control their own destiny in this race with no remaining games against the Giants, Mets or even the Padres, who have a three-game lead over the Mets for the second wild-card.
But three of their five remaining series are against teams with losing records heading into the weekend.
Here’s the Reds’ complete remaining schedule with records through Wednesday in parentheses: Three at Sacramento against the Athletics (67-80), three at St. Louis (72-74), four at home vs. the Cubs (83-63), three vs. the Pirates (64-82) and three at Milwaukee (89-58).
Which makes the Reds’ path to October so clear that we’ve broken it down into five (not a chance they’re) easy steps for the Reds to make the playoffs:
1. Pray to God, Allah, Brahma, Zeus or Jobu for help
The Reds need to at least tie the Mets (Reds own the head-to-head tiebreaker) and likely must leap-frog the Giants (they split the season series, so the second tiebreaker is a team’s record in its division; and the Giants have the edge so far). The Giants have seven games left afgainst the Dodgers, who beat San Francisco in both series they’ve played so far, so that might be a reasonable place to start with the prayers.
2. Sweep the Athletics in Sacramento this weekend
With all due respect to the Pirates (who come to Cincinnati to close out the home schedule), this might be the softest series left for the Reds. The last-place team in the AL West has lost seven of its last 11 and play much worse at “home” in their minor-league ballpark in Sacramento (30-42) than they do on the road (37-38).
3. Sweep the Cardinals next week
Obviously, every win is important. But more than that, the Cardinals are the objects in the rear-view mirror that are closer than they appear. It won’t matter how much help the Reds get to catch the teams in front of them if they don’t keep the Cardinals behind them. What’s more, they trail the Cards 6-4 in the season series with three to play. They need the sweep to assure owning the tiebreaker (the Cards have a big lead for the second tiebreaker).
4. Skillfully deploy Chase Burns
The Reds’ 100-mph rookie pitcher missed the entirety of that skid to near-oblivion. It started just after he went on the IL for a flexor strain, following a string of improving starts. He returns Sept. 12, when he’ll go in the bullpen as a sort of “scheduled” reliever, whose workload and patterns will be monitored to assure best health outcomes. His ability to throw multiple innings makes him added insurance for the rotation as well as the most powerful arm in what will be a well rested bullpen on the day he returns. “He’s a weapon,” Martinez said.
5. Root for the Brewers to win big in the next week or two
A mid-September surge for the Brewers should clinched a first-round bye and maybe even their first 100-win season by the time the Reds get to Milwaukee for the final series of the year. The Reds, who haven’t beaten the Brewers in a series in more than three years, will probably need those games. What they don’t need is Milwaukee thinking it has something at stake to play for.
The way the Reds responded to maybe their most deflating loss of the season in the Mets opener last weekend, they’ve at least given themselves a chance. Maybe even proving that Martinez is right about this inability to squash these guys in this race?
“I hope they believe that,” manager Terry Francona said. “Because we’ve got some interesting baseball coming up.”