Reds' Andrew Abbott throws three-hitter as Guardians suffer sixth loss in last eight games

CLEVELAND — The Guardians wasted another strong pitching performance with another weak offensive effort Tuesday night at Progressive Field. Inefficiency at the plate derailed right-hander Slade Cecconi, who matched a career high with eight strikeouts over five innings but was outpitched by Reds right-hander Andrew Abbott in Cleveland's 1-0 loss. The Guardians, who slipped to 0-5 against manager Terry Francona and Cincinnati this year, managed only three hits off Abbott over nine innings, losing for the for the sixth time in eight games. They've scored three runs or fewer in five of their last eight games. Despite the futility, Cleveland kept fighting, putting the tying run aboard twice in the ninth. "I couldn't be more proud of our guys tonight. I know it looks like three hits on the scoreboard, but that's how special Abbott was," manager Stephen Vogt said. "And we still put ourselves into a chance to win this game multiple times and yeah, we're going through it." "This was a tough game today," said Carlos Santana, whose drive to wall in left ended the game with Jose Ramirez on first. "He threw great, but we kept fighting. We played good defense. We try, we try, but we lost. It's a long season. Mentally, we have to keep fighting. We have to think one day at a time and play the best baseball that we can." The Guardians managed only one hit after Johnathan Rodriguez's two-out single in the fifth off Abbott, who got 12 outs on three pitches or fewer, including six on just one. Cecconi was nearly as good for five innings. He retired the first 10 batters, taking a no-hitter one out into the fourth before a double from Gavin Lux, followed by a single from Elly De La Cruz left two on base. Cecconi struck out the next two batters to keep the game scoreless, but former Cleveland outfielder Will Benson started the fifth with a double and scored when Spencer Steer followed with a single. Benson has been rough on his former team, going 5-for-16 with four of his six homers against the Guardians this year. "That first time through that was as good as we've seen him, nine up, nine down," Vogt said of Cecconi, who made his fifth start of the season. "They got to him a little bit in the fifth, but even then he was able to pitch his way out of a jam." After failing to get a call on a two-strike pitch to Gavin Lux in the fifth, Cecconi got Lux to line out and had words with home plate umpire Todd Tichenor as he walked off the mound. "It was a little bit of an accumulation of a few things that didn't go my way," Cecconi explained. "That inning with that call being a big moment on a pitch that I felt was executed very well … I really don't like to talk to umpires. I was disappointed in myself for doing it. We exchanged words after I came out of the game to kind of cool it off. "I don't even know what I said. I blacked out, just fired up intense emotion in the game and those guys have a really hard job back there and I try to make sure I respect that as much as I can because it's not easy what they do. I just felt like that pitch was in a really good spot in a really big spot, so I really wanted it. But, all good now." Steven Kwan drew a leadoff walk to start the ninth, but David Fry hit into a double play. Ramirez reignited the rally with a base hit, but Santana's long fly ball was tracked down by Benson to end the game. Ramirez's single extended his career-high on-base streak to 36 games, accounting for the American's League's longest of the season. He was robbed by right fielder Jake Fraley, who made a diving catch on a drive pegged for extra bases to lead off the seventh. "We hit some balls hard," Vogt said. "Fry gets robbed. Hosey gets robbed of a leadoff triple probably (in the seventh). So we hit some balls hard, just weren't able to get anything going." Nolan Jones returned the defensive favor with a strong throw home in the eighth on a shallow fly ball to center to get Matt McLain and keep it a one-run game. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.