Reds hope to get by with bullpen game vs. skidding Nationals

The Cincinnati Reds' pitching staff is in rough shape as the team heads to Washington to take on the Nationals in a three-game series starting Friday.

Hunter Greene was scheduled to start on Thursday, but a day earlier he landed on the 15-day injured list due to soreness in his surgically repaired right elbow.

Greene, who didn't make his season debut until July 4 while recovering from surgery, traveled to Los Angeles on Thursday to get a second opinion.

He likely will be out for the rest of the season.

"My guess is there's always hope (he returns this year), but I think that's a slim chance, I really do," Reds manager Terry Francona said.

Francona moved Andrew Abbott up a day to start on Thursday, and the left-hander responded by pitching the Reds to a 6-3 win over the visiting Athletics. Abbott allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings.

"We were going to have a bullpen day either way, so we didn't want to mess him up," Francona said of Abbott. "He said he was fine."

However, the Reds are now facing that bullpen game Friday against the Nationals.

The good news for Francona is the Cincinnati offense is starting to take off and could help lift the pitching staff.

The Reds hit four homers on Thursday as they beat the A's for their first sweep since mid-April against the Minnesota Twins. Cincinnati has won four straight and six of its past seven.

The top four players in the lineup -- Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart, JJ Bleday and Tyler Stephenson -- all hit solo blasts.

Stewart has 25 home runs, the second most ever by a Reds rookie. He trails only Frank Robinson, who hit 38 in 1956.

"You can't draw it better than that," said Bleday, who has a career-high-tying 20 homers. "It has been a grind and a learning experience for me. I am trying to get back to the production I had earlier in the year. I need to stay within myself."

Bleday said, "The sweep was real important. If we can continue to stack (wins), we can go on a run."

The Nationals will go with Cade Cavalli (8-5, 3.52 ERA) on Friday. The 27-year-old right-hander is coming off a 4-2 loss to the Braves on Sunday, when he gave up three runs (two earned) in six innings. However, he had won his previous three starts.

Cavalli has faced the Reds just once in his career, when he took a loss in his major league debut on Aug. 26, 2022. He gave up seven runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings.

The Nationals are coming off a 1-7 road trip to Atlanta and Philadelphia.

Since they last played a home game, the Nationals traded slugger Luis Garcia Jr., who is tied for fifth in the major leagues with 78 RBIs, to the Yankees and lost James Wood and his 30 home runs to a mild left oblique strain.

Washington may have found a spark, though, with the arrival of rookie left fielder Andrew Pinckney.

The 2023 fourth-round draft pick made his first start on Thursday and collected his first assist. He also collected his first major league hit, a 402-foot home run off National League Cy Young Award candidate Christopher Sanchez of the Phillies.

"That was awesome. It was shot out of a cannon," Nationals manager Blake Butera said. "He hit that ball really hard. To do it, obviously, off an arm like (Sanchez) to right-center field was impressive. Super excited for him. He was fired up. It was a really cool moment for Andrew."

--Field Level Media