Cactus League Game 8 – Reds at Athletics

Andrew Abbott yielded a dinger and a pair of earned runs in 2.0 IP in his initial outing of Cactus League play for the Cincinnati Reds this spring. On Sunday afternoon, he’ll toe the rubber against the Philadelphia Oakland Las Vegas Sacramento Athletics of Mesa at their home park as the Reds continue their mini road trip across the Land of the Endless Strip Mall in central Arizona.

It’s hard not to say the Reds are rolling out their B-squad for this game, since that’s effectively what it is. However, as the history of B-squads of the Cincinnati Reds goes, this year’s sure feels like it’s a significant improvement. For example, they’ve got Nate Lowe at cleanup, a top of the order featuring Will Benson, Noelvi Marte, and JJ Bleday, and even Tyler Stephenson and Christian Encarnacion-Strand rounding out the order.

Down in the bullpen for the day, each of Emilio Pagan, Connor Phillips, Brock Burke, Luis Mey, Tony Santillan, and Zach Maxwell are available on the travel roster, so it’s certainly not a bullpen B-squad on the day.

First pitch is set for 3:05 PM ET, and while there is once again no televised coverage, you can listen to the game via 700 WLW.

Here’s the full travel roster for the game: