Suddenly the Cincinnati Reds starting rotation is on a back road to nowhere.
With a much-deceiving 9-6 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon, the five-man rotation went through its last turn with a 10.32 earned run average.
And it’s the major reason the Reds have lost four of their last five games.
The bullpen was guilty as charged, too. While losing two of three to the Angels, the Reds pitching staff issued 27 walks in the last five games.
During the three-game series, the two teams combined to walk46 batters, the all-time worst in a three-game series involving the Reds.
Los Angeles Angels’ Oswald Peraza claps as he rounds the bases past Cincinnati Reds first baseman Sal Stewart (27) after hitting a solo home run in the fourth inning of a baseball game in Cincinnati, Sunday, April 12, 2026.
Carolyn Kaster – AP
The series was littered with wild pitches and the two teams combined for five errors Sunday.
It was three days of how not to play winning baseball … by both sides.
The latest rotation culprit was Andrew Abbott. He gave up five runs and seven hits in the first two innings and gave up seven runs and eight hits in the three innings he lasted.
It was not a wise thing to do when the Reds were facing Angels ace Jose Soriano. He came into the game 3-0 with a league-best 0.45 earned run average.
In his first three starts against good teams — Houston, the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta — he gave up one run and seven hits over 20 innings, striking out 21.
Spotting him a 5-0 lead in the second was like a 50-0 deficit. Spotting him a 7-0 lead after four innings was like a 100-0 deficit.
And that’s the way it went. He pitched seven innings and gave up no runs, two hits, walked three and struck out 10 as he lowered his earned run average to a minuscule 0.33, by far the best in baseball by a starting pitcher.
Only one Reds hitter reached second base.
By the time he left it was 9-0. The Reds exhaled against a shaky Angels bullpen and scored three runs in the eighth and three in the ninth.
“He came as advertised,” Reds manager Tito Francona told reporters when asked about Soriano. “High 90s, two-seam movement, breaking ball with a changeup and a split. Then he four-seams it up high. He’s pretty impressive.”
But Abbott and the rest of the rotation have been depressive the last time through.
During Abbott’s three innings, the Angels ripped his fastballs as if they knew they were coming.
He retired Zach Neto to open the game, then gave up a couple of soft singles to Mike Trout and Jo Adell.
Jorge Soler lined to left and Abbott was one out, one pitch, from escaping.
It didn’t happen.
Three straight Angels singled, including a two-run single by Nolan Schanuer and a run-scoring single by Logan D’Hoppe and it was 3-0 before the Reds came to bat.
Abbott struck out Bryce Teodosio to start the second, but he walked Neto and Trout singled. Adell singled for a run and Soler’s sacrifice fly made it 5-0.
Abbott pitched a 1-2-3 third, but gave up a first-pitch home run to Oscar Peraza to open the fourth. When he walked Teodosio his short-lived day was over.
“The first inning, he (Abbott) just couldn’t get that last out,” said Francona, always protective of his players.
“He yanked a couple of fastballs and paid for it,” he added. “I didn’t think he was really throwing the ball that bad. His line isn’t as bad as it looks.
Cincinnati Reds’ Elly de la Cruz celebrates as he rounds the bases after hitting a three-run homer during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels in Cincinnati, Sunday, April 12, 2026.
Carolyn Kaster – AP
“He started spinning it better in the second, which was good, and then he just starting getting some pitches that were up just a little bit too much and too much in the middle, too much of the plate,” he said.
Once Soriano left after seven and a 9-0 lead, the Reds gave the 20,311 fans in Great American Ball Park a few things to cheer about.
Sam Bachman, a Miami, Ohio product, started the eighth and a weird eighth it was.
He walked TJ Friedl to start the inning. After McLain struck out, Elly De La Cruz singled and Sal Stewart singled home Friedl.
Pinch-hitter Will Benson walked to fill the bases.
Then came a play rarely seen in an MLB game. Two runners scored on one wild pitch. Bachman’s pitch hit umpire Ben May in the mask and ricocheted away far enough for both De La Cruz to score from third and Stewart from second.
So it was 9-3 entering the bottom of the ninth.
Nick Sandlin was the Angels pitcher and Noelvi Marte reached when third baseman Peraza kicked his ground ball for an error. Dane Myers followed with a single and Friedl was hit by a pitch to fill the bases with no outs.
Los Angeles manager Kurt Suzuki took no chances. He immediately brought in one of his top-line relief pitchers, lefthander Drew Pomeranz.
McLain lined his first pitch to third and Peraza speared it and doubled Benson off third.
With two outs and two on, De La Cruz drilled a three-run home run over the center field wall, the fourth home run batting righthanded by the switch-hitting De La Cruz.
Cincinnati Reds’ TJ Friedl is hit by a pitch thrown by Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Sandlin during the ninth inning of a baseball game in Cincinnati, Sunday, April 12, 2026.
Carolyn Kaster – AP
That made it 9-6 and Stewart struck out to end it.
De La Cruz is on a streak of reaching base in 13 straight games and has scored 13 runs, at least one in 12 of those 13 games.
Asked about the wildness of the series, in more ways than one, Francona took his usual stance.
“Again, I don’t care about yesterday,” he told reporters. “It doesn’t matter to me. I care about what we do and I don’t care if they had wild pitches and passed balls or whatever.
“We need to tighten it up a little bit because we’re not scoring at will. We need to make sure we pay attention to details, lower our walks, play clean baseball … we will.”
He doesn’t have to worry about tomorrow. The Reds are off Monday before opening a three-game series Tuesday in GABP against the San Francisco Giants (6-10).