Andrew Abbott's last subpar outing should give Reds fans hope for his next start

Cincinnati Reds starter Andrew Abbott got tagged for six runs on nine hits including two home runs in his first loss of the season on Friday night at American Family Field.

Abbott failed to get past the fifth inning for the first time in his major league career and Reds Country is soudning the alarm, fearful that the left-hander isn't as good as they'd once hoped.

While that's a bit of an extreme reaction, Abbott did get hit hard on Friday night in Milwaukee. The Brewers bats, which had been rather silent of late, woke up. According to Baseball Savant, seven of the Crew's nine hits came off the bat at more than 95 mph.

Reds starter Andrew Abbott followed up his last rough outing with 5 shutout innings.

First of all, it was just one game. Andrew Abbott put together a historic stretch of six games to begin his career. Friday's outing should not take away from his stellar start to the season.

But there's sure to be concern about whether or not Abbott will be able to mentally bounce back from this game, especially with his next start likely to come against the same Milwaukee Brewers club that torched him on Friday night. Milwaukee makes the trek to Cincinnati to battle the Reds after the All-Star break.

The last time Abbott was hit this hard was on May 13th while toeing the rubber for Triple-A Louisville. The Columbus Clippers tagged the Reds southpaw for five earned runs and two home runs. That sounds eerily similar to the line that Abbott posted in Friday night's series opener.

Andrew Abbott was given the ball five days later and the 24-year-old fired five shutout innings while allowing just three hits in his follow-up outing for the Louisville Bats. Abbott struck out eight batters and looked like that top prospect who was itching to make it to the major leagues.

Abbott has never shown a lack of confidence or signs of being rattled mentally. The left-hander displayed a bulldog-type mentality at the University of Virginia and has carried that toughness over to the ranks of professional baseball.

Take a deep breath, Reds fans. Andrew Abbott is a really, really good pitcher. Abbott has all the potential in the world and will probably be pacing the dugout like a lion until he gets to face the Brewers again next week at Great American Ball Park.