CINCINNATI (AP) — Joan Adon retired his very first 17 batters and the Washington Nationals beat the careless Cincinnati Reds 7-3 on Saturday, handing them their 5th successive defeat.
Lane Thomas knocked in 2 runs and scored two times to help the last-place Nationals match a season best with their 3rd straight win.
The 24-year-old Adon (1-0), in his 2nd stint with Washington this season, made his very first big league start given that July 7, 2022. He was dealing with an ideal video game with 2 outs in the 6th inning when No. 9 batter Luke Maile lined a tidy single to ideal field.
Elly De La Cruz followed with an infield single and TJ Friedl struck a three-run homer into the right-field seats to make it 6-3.
“Adon was really deceptive,” Friedl said. “He hides the ball for a long time, so you have a little less time to pick it up. It makes it hard to see and to make adjustments.”
Adon was remembered from Triple-A Rochester prior to the video game when Mason Thompson went on the 15-day hurt list with a bruised left knee. The right-hander permitted 3 runs and 3 hits in 6 innings. He started out 7 and strolled none.
“From what I could see, he was attacking the zone, keeping us on the defensive,” Reds supervisor David Bell said. “We didn’t have a walk until late in the game. That’s been part of our game, to go deep in the counts and get on base any way we can.”
Adon understood by the 4th inning what was going on.
“I’m glad I was able to go six,” he said through an interpreter. “I was able to maintain my control and not let it get to me.”
He ended up with 86 pitches, right around his forecasted pitch count.
“He was great,” Washington supervisor Dave Martinez said. “He was attacking the strike zone and keeping his pitches down. He was electric. His changeup was really good. His curveball was really, really good, but the key was locating his fastball.”
If Adon had extended the no-hitter, would he have gone out for the seventh?
“It would’ve depended on how he felt,” Martinez said with a small smile. “There would’ve been a conversation.”
“No one wants to leave a no-hitter,” said Adon, who acknowledged constraining up in the 6th.
Andrés Machado, Jordan Weems and Kyle Finnegan each worked an inning to complete the four-hitter.
The second-place Reds (59-54) dedicated 4 mistakes for the 2nd time in 4 video games, consisting of 2 by De La Cruz at shortstop on one play.
“There is zero concern about this team,” Bell said. “You just play hard and do it together.”
Thomas, who homered two times Friday night as Washington won 6-3 in 10 innings, had 2 hits. Keibert Ruiz included 2 doubles for the Nationals (48-63).
The video game drew a crowd of 41,059 for Cincinnati’s ninth sellout of the season — the group’s most given that 16 in 2013.
Rookie left-hander Andrew Abbott, who lasted a season-low 3 1/3 innings in his previous start, required 42 pitches to survive 2 innings. He ended up with 105 in 5 2/3 innings.
“It was one of those days in baseball when you don’t have it,” Abbott said. “Just realizing that I wasn’t hitting spots, wasn’t getting ahead of guys. I kind of switched modes from trying to dominate to trying to get the bullpen a little break.”
Abbott (6-3) set a season high with 5 strolls while permitting 9 hits and 6 runs with 3 strikeouts.
WARMING UP
The Nationals have actually won 10 of their last 15 video games.
“Our young guys are gaining confidence,” Martinez said. “They’re doing the little things. Everything is working well.”
LINEUP RELOCATION
The Nationals optioned RHP Amos Willingham (0-2) to Rochester after the video game.
FITNESS INSTRUCTOR’S ROOM
Reds OF Jake Fraley was put on the 10-day hurt list, retroactive to Friday, with a tension fracture in the 4th toe on his left foot. The group remembered outfielder TJ Hopkins from Triple-A Louisville.
UP NEXT
Nationals RHP Jake Irvin (3-5) is scheduled to start Sunday afternoon’s series ending. RHP Lyon Richardson is anticipated to be promoted from the taxi team to start for Cincinnati. It would be his big league launching.
