Reds take advantage of Red Sox’s recent injury misery with Opening Day starter

After losing Hunter Greene to a serious elbow injury that will keep him on the injured list until at least July, Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona will be forced to hand the ball to left-handerAndrew Abbott as the team's Opening Day starter against the Boston Red Sox.

Missing Greene will surely sting, but turning to Abbott was an easy decision following his breakout campaign in 2025. The Reds' first opponent in 2026 made the choice even easier with the Red Sox lineup skewing left-handed heavy. Boston also lost their two options against left-handed pitching during the offseason, and a recent injury just took away their third.

Reds starter Andrew Abbott could dominate the Red Sox on Opening Day

This past offseason, the Red Sox lost Rob Refsnyder to the Seattle Mariners and Alex Bregman to the Chicago Cubs. More recently, Romy González suffered a shoulder injury that will keep him out of Boston's lineup to begin the year. That trio was by far Boston's most productive group against left-handing pitching in 2025.

Without Refsynder, Bregman, or Gonzalez, the Red Sox's best platoon options are now infielders Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Andruw Monasterio, neither of whom inspire much fear in the opposition when they're in the batters' box.

Abbott will still have to face an imposing Boston lineup, but most of their big bats — Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, and Marcelo Mayer — are all left-handed hitters. Abbott held left-handed batters to a .614 OPS while posting a 2.56 FIP in 2025 and will be looking for similar results on Opening Day.

Without Greene in the rotation, it's almost guaranteed that fellow left-handed starter Nick Lodolo will slot into one of the top three spots in the Reds rotation. Brady Singer or Rhett Lowder will likely get the nod for the opening series as well. That means that Francona can run out two lefties against his former team — something that should favor Cincinnati.

By no means will this guarantee an opening series victory for the Reds. The Red Sox are set to deploy their own pair of left-handed hurlers, with Garrett Crochet and Ranger Suárez set to begin the year in Boston's rotation. Longtime NL Central veteran and old friend Sonny Gray is also expected to get the ball for Boston during the first week of the 2026 season.

Cincinnati's offense will need to perform at a high level in order to produce enough runs to beat Boston's triumvirate of starters, but as far as silver linings go, it's hard to ask for a better Opening Day matchup for the Reds.