Abbott has been slowly coming along and Francona has seen it.
The Cincinnati Reds beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-6 on Friday night at Progressive Field, and Andrew Abbott picked the right time to look like himself again.
The left-hander pitched five scoreless innings before Rhys Hoskins took him deep to lead off the sixth, ending a career-best 21 2/3 inning scoreless run.
Abbott still got the win, and his ERA is dropping fast.
It's a long way from where he started the season.
Through his first six starts, Abbott was 0-2 with a 6.59 ERA over 28 2/3 innings, and nobody in Cincinnati was quite sure what was wrong with their Opening Day guy.
The last few outings have been a different story, including six scoreless innings against Houston last weekend in a series that pulled the Reds out of a brutal stretch.
Francona Likes What He's Seeing
Asked about Abbott after Friday's game, Reds manager Terry Francona didn't bother with anything fancy.
"He's been much more like Abbott," Francona said. "It was a lot (of pitches) early, and I thought that kind of wore on him a little bit. But he made some pitches when he really had to. He competed like hell."
It took Abbott 67 pitches to get through three innings because of some deep counts and three walks, but he came back with a 1-2-3 fourth and was at 84 through five.
Hoskins got him on pitch 90, the streak was done, and Francona pulled him.
Abbott walked off having allowed four hits, three walks and one earned run with two strikeouts, picking up his third win of the year.
Reds Lean on Their Rotation
The win moved Cincinnati to 24-21 on the season, while Cleveland fell to 24-22 in the AL Central.
With Hunter Greene still recovering, Brandon Williamson and Rhett Lowder both shelved with shoulder issues, and Nick Lodolo trying to find his footing after his own injury, Abbott has become a steady arm in this rotation right next to Chase Burns, who threw six scoreless against the Nationals the day before.
Cincinnati even had to bring in former Marlin Chris Paddack to start Saturday's middle game of the series.
Matt McLain's two-run homer in the eighth pushed the Reds out to 6-1, then the bullpen nearly gave it all back.
Graham Ashcraft and Brock Burke combined for four walks in the inning and let the Guardians cut it to 6-5.
The Reds tacked on an insurance run in the ninth to survive.
Abbott was the reason there was anything to protect, and Francona has been honest about what he expects from this room through the rough patch.
For a guy who spent most of April lost, that's two strong outings in a row.
The version of Abbott the Reds need is starting to come back.