Reds turn to struggling Andrew Abbott in finale vs. Padres

Tuesday night's 4-2 win at the San Diego Padres gave the visiting Cincinnati Reds the victory they desperately needed and also allowed them to gain a game in their quest for the National League's last wild-card spot.

If the Reds are to win the rubber match of the three-game series in San Diego, they might need Andrew Abbott to get back to the first-half form that earned him an All-Star spot.

Abbott (8-6, 2.88 ERA) was 8-1 with a 2.07 ERA at the break and had allowed only 21 earned runs. In nine starts after the break, he's 0-5 and has coughed up 25 earned runs, continuing a pattern of second-half fades in his three-year career.

Cincinnati manager Terry Francona said he discussed the issue with pitching coach Derek Johnson.

"I asked DJ that and he said he's held his stuff much better this year than he did last year," Francona said. "His stuff's fine. When he was going through a really good streak, you could almost see a little bit of a swagger. Right now, that's not quite there."

Abbott's latest shaky outing was a 5-4 loss Friday night to the New York Mets that saw him yield five runs on nine hits over 4 2/3 innings while walking one and fanning five. But the good news is he's dominated in three career starts against San Diego, going 1-0 and permitting just two earned runs in 19 2/3 innings.

The Reds (73-72) pulled within three games of the Mets for the last wild-card spot as a result of Tuesday night's victory. Cincinnati also remains one game behind San Francisco and doesn't face either the Mets or Giants, so it will need help the rest of the way.

In terms of winning the NL West, the Padres (79-66) will require a bit more help. Their loss Tuesday night, coupled with the Los Angeles Dodgers' 7-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies, doubled their deficit to two games.

San Diego remained three games behind the Chicago Cubs for the first wild-card spot and three games ahead of the Mets for the second wild-card position.

The Padres will send their best starter this year, Nick Pivetta (13-5, 2.85), ton the mound Wednesday.

Pivetta's coming off a 3-0 loss Friday night in Colorado, where he gave up two runs on seven hits over six innings with two walks and five strikeouts. The right-hander is 1-1 with a 3.41 ERA in eight career appearances (four starts) against Cincinnati.

The Padres' main task for this game has to be reviving their bats. They managed only three hits on Tuesday night and have nine for the series after exploding for 18 runs on 30 hits in the final two games of their weekend series at Colorado.

One concern is third baseman Manny Machado, who is 0-for-8 in the series with three strikeouts, dropping his average to .199 since Aug. 1. Manager Mike Shildt has faith in the perennial All-Star.

"He'll figure it out," Shildt said after Tuesday night's loss.

Another thing to watch could be how Shildt deploys his bullpen. Jeremiah Estrada, Wandy Peralta, Mason Miller and Robert Suarez could be unavailable after working the series' first two games. Among his high-leverage relievers, only Adrian Morejon didn't work on Tuesday night.

--Field Level Media