Photo: Doug Gray

Cincinnati Reds vs Chicago Cubs – May 28, 2021

05/28/2021

Fresh off of a series win in Washington, the Cincinnati Reds are heading to Chicago to take on the Cubs today to begin a 3-game series. Vladimir Gutierrez will be making his Major League debut at 2:20pm ET.

Starting Lineups

Cincinnati Reds	Chicago Cubs
Jesse Winker – LF	Joc Pederson – LF
Nick Castellanos – RF	Kris Bryant – 1B
Tyler Naquin – CF	Javier Báez – SS
Tyler Stephenson – 1B	Ian Happ – CF
Tucker Barnhart – C	Willson Contreras – C
Kyle Farmer – SS	Rafael Ortega – RF
Max Schrock – 3B	David Bote – 3B
Jonathan India – 2B	Eric Sogard – 2B
Vladimir Gutierrez – SP	Adbert Alzolay – SP

Starting Pitchers

Vladimir Gutierrez

This is going to be the Major League debut for Vladimir Gutierrez. In spring training with the Reds he threw 7.0 shutout innings with two walks and 11 strikeouts. He then pitched for the alternate site team in April and joined the Triple-A Louisville Bats when the minor league season began on May 4th. He’s made three starts with the Bats, posting a 2.65 ERA in 17.0 innings where he allowed nine hits – three homers – seven walks, and he has struck out 21 batters.

Small sample size on his splits, but righties have hit .162/.262/.378 against him in 42 plate appearances this year in Triple-A. Lefties have hit .136/.240/.318 against him.

While we don’t have the precise details of his pitch selection and velocity like we do for guys in the big leagues because that data isn’t public, here’s the scouting report: Fastball that’s worked 93-95 and touched 97 this year, a curveball and a more slurvy curveball that can both be above-average pitches, and a solid change up.

Adbert Alzolay

Over the last three seasons Alzolay has only pitched in 14 games for the Cubs, but eight of them have come this year. He’s only walked seven batters in 44.0 innings and he’s struck out 45 – a very good ratio, but he’s also been very home run prone this season as he’s given up nine long balls so far. His slider is his go-to pitch and he throws it nearly half of the time.

There are some splits for Adbert Alzolay this year. He’s held right-handed hitters to a .176/.213/.329 line on the year with 3 walks and 28 strikeouts. Lefties haven’t hit for much average, either, but they’ve hit for plenty of power with a .216/.266/.500 line against him to go with 4 walks and 17 strikeouts. He’s also posted a 5.03 ERA at home where he’s given up five homers in 19.2 innings (3.70 ERA on the road).

Pitch usage from 2021

	4-Seam	2-Seam	Slider	Change	Curve
Velo	93.7	93.4	86.0	84.8	80.3
Usage	19%	29%	47%	4%	1%

When and Where

Game time: 2:20pm ET
Where: Wrigley Field, Chicago
Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv, MLB Network, ESPN+
Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
Forecast: 50°, cloudy/rain throughout the day

News and Notes

Vladimir Gutierrez officially called up

While we’ve known for a few days now that Vladimir Gutierrez was being called up, the move was not official. Not until this afternoon, that is. The team made the roster move, and optioned right-handed pitcher Ashton Goudeau back to Triple-A Louisville. Art Warren, who was the 27th man for last night’s doubleheader in Washington returned to his spot on the taxi squad.

Wade Miley and Tyler Mahle flip spots

Wade Miley is eligible to come off of the injured list on Sunday, but he is going to return to the rotation on Monday while the team goes with Tyler Mahle on Sunday to wrap up their series in Chicago as first reported by The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale.

Jesse Winker and Joey Votto

In case you missed it this morning, Ashley Davis took a look at how Jesse Winker compares to Joey Votto in his age 27 season here on the digital pages of Redleg Nation. Go give it a read.

A catcher AND a catch

Last night in Louisville there was a catch followed immediately by a catch. Confused yet? Well, watch the video of Dwight Smith Jr’s catcher and then what followed.