The Cincinnati Reds (26-26) will look to win the series on Saturday night in a match up with the Chicago White Sox (33-18) that pits two of the best starting pitchers in 2020 against each other. The Reds will be sending Trevor Bauer to the mound and the White Sox will counter with Dallas Keuchel. If you add their earned run averages together it would still be lower than the league average ERA. Just a reminder that this game is on Fox, not Fox Sports Ohio. It’s a nationally televised game.
Starting Lineups
Chicago White Sox
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Cincinnati Reds
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| Tim Anderson – SS | Aristides Aquino – LF |
| Yasmani Grandal – C | Nick Castellanos – RF |
| Jose Abreu – 1B | Joey Votto – 1B |
| Eloy Jimenez – LF | Eugenio Suárez – 3B |
| Edwin Encarnacion – DH | Tyler Stephenson – DH |
| Yoan Moncada – 3B | Mike Moustakas – 2B |
| Luis Robert – CF | Nick Senzel – CF |
| Nomar Mazara – RF | Jose Garcia – SS |
| Nick Madrigal – 2B | Curt Casali – C |
| Dallas Keuchel – SP | Trevor Bauer – SP |
Against the left-handed Dallas Keuchel, the Reds are only starting two left-handed hitters – Joey Votto and Mike Moustakas. Keuchel’s coming off of the injured list, though he only missed 12 days since making his last start.
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB% | K% |
| Trevor Bauer | 58.0 | 1.71 | 0.81 | 6.8% | 37.4% |
| Dallas Keuchel | 53.1 | 2.19 | 1.05 | 5.6% | 14.9% |
| Links: Trevor Bauer’s Stats | Dallas Keuchel’s Stats |
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Trevor Bauer
Making his 10th start of the season, Trevor Bauer will face off against one of the better offenses in baseball as he tries to get one step closer to being the Cincinnati Reds first ever Cy Young winner. In his last two starts he’s struck out 22 batters and allowed one run in 14.0 innings. In seven of his nine starts this season he’s allowed one or zero earned runs, with seven of the 11 earned runs he has allowed this season coming in back-to-back starts on August 24th against Milwaukee and on August 29th against the Chicago Cubs.
He has absolutely dominated right-handed hitters this season, holding them to a .122/.202/.178 line on the season without a home run. Lefties have hit .184/.244/.386 against him. They haven’t gotten on base or picked up many hits, but a third of the hits that they do have, well, they’ve been home runs (7 homers out of 21 total hits in 123 plate appearances).
Pitch Usage in 2020
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Slider | Cutter | Curve | |
| Velo | 93.8 | 94.5 | 81.1 | 85.3 | 80.0 |
| Usage | 49% | 1% | 14% | 20% | 16% |
Dallas Keuchel
One of the better pitchers in the American League (and MLB as a whole), Dallas Keuchel has a 2.19 ERA on the season through nine starts. The left-handed starter doesn’t see many lefties, but in 41 plate appearances this season lefties have hit just .158/.220/.158 against him this season. Right-handed hitters have had a lot more success, but only because lefties have done next to nothing. Righties are hitting just .233/.273/.307 against him on the year. He doesn’t miss bats against righties or lefties, and he gets a lot of grounders – but it’s 63% vs leftes and 54% vs righties, making it elite against the lefties and just very good against righties. He’s only allowed two home runs all season, and none in his last 29.2 innings (last 5 starts).
Pitch Usage in 2020
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Cutter | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 88.8 | 87.6 | 85.3 | 76.2 | 78.7 |
| Usage | 2% | 32% | 30% | 7% | 28% |
When and Where
- Game time: 7:07pm ET
- Where: Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati
- Watch: Fox
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 62°, sunny, 0% chance of rain
NL Central Standings
| Team | Wins | Losses | GB |
| Cubs | 31 | 20 | – |
| Reds | 26 | 26 | 5.5 |
| Cardinals | 24 | 24 | 5.5 |
| Brewers | 24 | 26 | 6.5 |
| Pittsburgh | 15 | 36 | 16.0 |
News and Notes
Matt Bowman and Tyler Thornburg undergo Tommy John surgery
Tyler Thornburg had Tommy John surgery this week, along with Matt Bowman. #Reds
— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) September 19, 2020
Updated Playoff Odds
Fangraphs has the Cincinnati Reds playoff odds up to 62.1%% after their win on Friday night and projects them to finish 30-30. Baseball Reference has the Reds playoff odds at 55.9%.