The Cincinnati Reds will look to slow down the out-of-nowhere red hot Chicago Cubs who have gone 8-2 over their last 10 games. First pitch tonight is set for 7:40pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Cincinnati Reds
|
Chicago Cubs
|
| Jonathan India – 2B | Willson Contreras – C |
| Tyler Naquin – CF | Frank Schwindel – 1B |
| Nick Castellanos – RF | Ian Happ – CF |
| Joey Votto – 1B | Patrick Wisdom – LF |
| Mike Moustakas – 3B | Matt Duffy – 3B |
| Kyle Farmer – SS | Jason Heyward – RF |
| Tucker Barnhart – C | David Bote – 2B |
| Max Schrock – LF | Sergio Alcántara – SS |
| Wade Miley – SP | Adrian Sampson – SP |
Starting Pitchers
Wade Miley
It’s been a very good season for Wade Miley, but he’s coming off of one of his worst outings of the season where he allowed 12 hits in 4.0 innings and five earned runs against the Cardinals.
Teams haven’t started many lefties against Miley this year and for good reason, too. Even the ones who are deemed good enough to face him have hit just .176/.233/.222 against him on the year in 117 trips to the plate. Righties have had more success, but only by comparison. They’ve managed to hit just .270/.331/.422 on the year in 505 plate appearances against him. On the road he’s holding hitters to a .639 OPS (.749 at home), but his ERA on the road is slightly worse – 3.07 to 2.87.
Pitch usage from 2021
| 4-Seam | Cutter | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 89.7 | 85.3 | 74.9 | 79.0 | 81.6 |
| Usage | 17% | 48% | 4% | 4% | 26% |
Adrian Sampson
Today will be just the 2nd start of the season in the Majors for 29-year-old Adrian Sampson and only his 6th big league appearance this year. He has made 14 starts in Triple-A Iowa this season where he’s posted a 4.96 ERA. In his 11.1 innings in the big leagues this year he’s allowed two earned runs.
Both lefties and righties have had success against him between the two stops this season. Righties are hitting .295/.377/.528 against him on the season. Lefties are hitting .268/.340/.506 against him this year.
Pitch usage from 2021
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Change | Slider | Cutter | |
| Velo | 92.6 | 92.1 | 85.5 | 83.6 | 86.5 |
| Usage | 7% | 50% | 21% | 16% | 5% |
When and Where
- Game time: 7:40pm ET
- Where: Wrigley Field
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 76°, partly cloudy, 15% chance of rain
NL Central Standings
Playoff odds via Fangraphs
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff % |
| Brewers | 84 | 55 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Reds | 73 | 66 | 11.0 | 38.2% |
| Cardinals | 69 | 67 | 13.5 | 4.0% |
| Cubs | 64 | 75 | 20.0 | 0.0% |
| Pirates | 49 | 89 | 34.5 | 0.0% |
Get the sticks out. Play like a playoff team.
Keep the Faith gents! In the pandemic shortened 2020 season the Reds were on the outside looking in with 23 games to go! They closed the season by going 15-8 to secure a playoff spot! Rooting for the Brewers (vs Phillies) and the Dodgers (vs Cards) tonight! Padres at home against the Halos for a short 2-game homestand. After that the Padres have a brutal schedule with a bunch of games against the Giants and Dodgers who are battling for 1st place in the NL West. Need to take care of business against the Cubs and get back to winning! Plenty of time left to secure the 2nd Wild Card spot. Only 2 games out in the loss column after losing 7 of 9 games! Could be worse! The brass ring is still in sight! Score early and often! And for God’s sake Geno, pay attention (to wild pitches or passed balls) if by some miracle you get into tonight’s as a PH and get on base!
Amen and +500
Sadak is clueless … overran it ????? He couldn’t tell that !!!!!
no remember the away team radio guys do not travel and have to work off the feed sent back. I will give him that one
And asks questions every minute of the broadcast – gonna have to turn volume off . Dude just grates my nerves …
Like fingernails on a chalkboard .
I’ve muted my tv for 2 months now. Much better.
Feels like the pressure is on to chase our spot in Game #163. Tonight would be a great night to turn things around and show everyone we’re serious about playing in October.
WEll its a righty on the mound for the Cubs so there is that going for us.
Wade Miley needs to be the guy tonight and get a Win.
India Votto Naquin and Castellanos need to lead.
Moose or Schrock needs to add something big to this offense against the righty.
Gotta beat the Cubs in crunch time and end this losing skid.
Interesting Cubs lineup, catcher leadoff, 1st baseman batting second.
India! May the hit parade commence!
And now Blastellanos!
India answers the bell
RoY sets the tone!
Castellanos answers the bell as well.
2-0
That’s leadership
I step away and its a INDBLASTTIANOS…..(ill make it work somehow)
I wasn’t sure that would go out, but like the Energizer Bunny, it just kept going and going and going …
Nice, easy swing Nick C!!
So far, Sampson isn’t fooling anybody to any great extent.
A lot of hard contact so far….
Votto doubles
Moose gets a chance to answer the bell as well.
Votto chimes in with a double. Moose — keep it going, man!
Cowboy called it correctly – the stutter step and jump cost Happ the out.
Nice start. Let’s hope it continues into the rest of the game….
Some hard hitting there … that’s a good thing to get us rolling.
Now for The Hulk!!
India and Castellanos and Votto ready to play to win.
Miley’s turn.
even the outs were hard hit. This is looking up
Yep – weakest was Moose and he at least sent it the other way.
I appreciate the aggressive approach by Nick. He’s obviously seeing the ball well tonight. Just didn’t barrel that one up quite well enough.
Pujols goes yard in StL
Hunter Greene gets hammered. Maybe Greene doesn’t have the innings mileage to be a starter every 5th day thru September yet
Likely not. He’s never pitched this far into a season and every day is as much an experiment as anything else. Frankly, I think he’ll be fine in the end.
Hes thrown 102 innings.
Perhaps its time to shut him down as a starter at AAA and bring him up for a spot start at GABP and then end his season.
He didn’t throw well. At all.
But Art Warren was hammered much harder. I am sure he will be in Cincinnati in a few days, while Moreta will stay in Louisville.
Warren with the Reds: 1.88 era, 21 k’s in 14 and 1/3 innings. Not chopped liver.
Greene had one very bad inning (the 4th) he couldn’t get himself out without the major damage (all 6 runs he allowed were in that inning). When he has had trouble at AAA it has usually been of the same nature, one inning gets away from him. Sometimes it is the first, sometimes later almost out of the blue when he seems to be cruising along.
I forgot to turn on the MiLB_TV stream until 7:30 and saw literally just his last hitter in the 4th so, I don’t know exactly what happened. The play by play indicates there was a leadoff single, a passed ball then a following single to plate the 1st run, a stolen base then an infield single. Eventually, there was a bases clearing double then after 2 consecutive outs a single and a HR.
Sometimes the hardest thing to learn that neither yourself nor the people around you are always perfect I think.
Yea Greene aint the answer this year. Reds need a few more Solo shots or put some runs together here
Moose Farmer Barnhart and Schrock have to do something.
Tucker has a hit and a BB.
Shortstops for both teams flashing the leather tonight….
That throw by Alcantara was pretty spectacular.
OK, Reds. Time to string some more hits together and score some runs. First inning was fine, but was only a start. Two runs will not win this game.
Good brake job by The Hulk. Happ came up with that in a hurry and would likely have nailed him at 2nd.
Miley with a long single. Someone needs to knock one out to get him back in the dugout as soon as possible. Don’t want him getting gassed running around the bases all inning!
Here we go again …. getting punked by
another no name pitcher … 1 inning of offense so far they 5
They scored 2 runs in the first and have done nothing since, getting concerned again.
Miley could be a great answer to Reds trivia and history . Last pitcher to ever win a Silver Slugger in MLB
Max Fried probably has it wrapped up but Miley could make it interesting
Miley is cruising aside from that flat pitch that found the basket. Time to back him a little more now.
Moose just does not have it these days….
I can’t believe Bell continues to play Moose, he has no bat speed at all.
Holy cow Votto looks old. Moose is worthless. Hang in there Miley.
This offense is flat out offensive, and not getting any better.
Moose and Farmer with embarassing at bats.
Farmer can hit lefties.
Moose and Suarez against anyone and Farmer against righties are why this offense cant score. None of them should start and get regular AB’s x Farmer against lefties. Farmer against righties is awful.
Bound and determined not to have
Barreros play … it’s ridiculous
This front office and Krall are a complete joke !!!!!
Throw the owner in there too !!!
I would say having moose at the plate is like having a pitcher batting…..but that is insulting to a pitcher like Miley
Or Lorenzen if they would let him bat again and probably even Gray.
SAVED BY THE iVY
+500
and the lead is secure…. IVY bonus secured
When Miley loses it he loses it fast
Bell should has Miley in 7th spot in the lineup before Popstakas and Farmer. Barnhart could hit sixth. . I don’t like this game how is progressing. Reds offense totally quiet and the score 2-1 it is very dangerous…
Nice break with that ball sticking in the weeds
Even nicer the front edge of the basket didn’t catch it.
Don’t like these close games night after night (it seems). Wish they would have kept the hammer on after the first inning.
Wow this is ridiculous … nothing since the first , nothing against one of the worst teams in baseball .
A team with nothing to lose can be very dangerous … especially when playing a team that is collectively slumping.
Trevor Megill had an ERA above 9.00 and became Devin Williams to pitch against Reds… Unbelievable
Alas my hit every inning comes to an end in the seventh.
Awful AB Naquin
As I said before the game
India Naquin Castellanos and votto needed to lead and Miley needed to pitch
They did
Moose and farmer and schrock havent added anything
3b and SS have done nothing all year
Winker is out and schrock has been solid as a fill-in
Krall and bell have options internally other than just farmer at SS and suarez/ moose at 3b and then “adding” cabrera and Deshields to Aquino and Akiyama and brach at 24-28
Moose and Suarez always seemingly in high leverage at bats
Moose has to do something
Finally
Why the Cubs didnt bring in a lefty?
I was wondering the same thing….
Probably want to see what their righty reliever can do against lefties and multiple hitters.
Why the Reds need to clean up on bad teams. They arent trying to win
They are in evaluation mode
Moose and Farmer got spring training at bats.
MOOSE COMES THROUGH, FINALLY!
Needed that.
Nice focus by RoY … good stroke by Moose to chase him in.
The Moose comes alive with the RBI Double
Farmer comes through, too!
4-1. Nice.
State Farm(er) mode Activated….. du du du te ta.
+100
Attaboy Kyle … now go have that #1 son so Barrero can get his chance. It won’t necessarily be a rest, but you won’t be beating up your body every day either.
Finally !
Crap. Don’t give this up, Lorenzen.
Get Lorenzen out for crying out loud !!!!!!
He’s regressing rapidly …
I got it if Lorenzen is having a bad streak, get givens up
He seems dialed in now. Glad we got those two add-on runs.
Hope somebody throwing in bullpen right now !!!!
Mikey owes Kyle a box of cigars for that one.
Heck of a play Kyle ! Webgem !
I really don’t like Ian Happ. I just don’t.
A cement mixer right at his belly button.
Me neither
OK, time to get Lorenzen out of there. Good thing we scored more than one run last inning.
And that play by Farmer.
Why bring him in in the first place after a bad outing the night before? I’ll caulk it up to one of those Bell moves.
Get him out !!!! I’m so sick of Ian Happ !!!! Only team he hits against are Reds !!! Dude couldn’t hit it in the ocean against anybody else !!!! Stupid pitch right there !!!
Did you hear the stats? 21 HR’s against the Reds??? That’s insane.
Phew. Hope Lorenzen does NOT come back out for the 9th. Reds could use a couple more insurance runs here. Maybe like 6 or 7!
He’s done for tonight – I’d bet on that. And yes we could use some more add-on.
Thought they were working with Stephenson in outfield ???? What happened with that !!!!! He has a professional bat and it needs to be in the lineup more often than it is !!!
Said it last night how Lorenzen was reverting back to his previous bullpen shenanigans from recent years.
He dots both corners with fastballs…how about mixing in some offspeed.
He will be a free agent this year.
Got lucky basically with the whole eighth there.. not making it easy for GIvins in the ninth
Once again, Shogo Akiyama is completely MIA and we send up a righty on righty instead.
Farmer another high effort play on defense. Lorenzen another home run
Searching for 15-16 million dollars in savings next year in Payroll?
I would trade Sonny Gray and his 2 years of control for Byron Buxton Twins and his 1 year in CF with whatever additionals needed and let Lorenzen go. Take the money saved from Gray and Lorenzen and try and get an OF of winker buxton and Castellanos
Castellanos isn’t coming back. Somebody will overpay wildly for him and he’ll walk away. Can’t blame him at all.
Still get buxton for CF
Fastest player in baseball
Best defensive cf in baseball
Beat leadoff in baseball
All star
winker, buxton….and sometimes Senzel might equal about 162 games of actual playing time.
And I like Buxton…but he’s injured a lot.
TySteve doing what he does …
And we have a Shogo sighting … finally.
Tommy Thrall just said the Reds only have 3 SB in their last 50 games. That is ridiculous.
I think freakin Happ is batting over 1.000 lifetime against us.
I wonder how many home runs he’s hit against the Reds this year. Seems like a lot.
Two men on with 1 out and Naquin up. Need to capitalize. Let’s go!
OK, that didn’t work. Two out. Up to Castellanos.
Poo
I don’t think Lorenzen was ever a great reliever, his fast ball is to straight and his off speed stuff is to inconsistent.
He had flashes of good. But so did Hembree , Brach, and Hendrix.
Ever since he got muscles he’s been bad.
Pitchers need to be elastic and flexible….not musclebound.
Since Lorenzen missed 2/3 of the season, I wasn’t expecting too much. His initial outings were good but it looks as though he is reverting to the mean.
I expect it is really tough for Bell. He never knows from day to day or week to week who he will have in the BP. What has it been, 29 different relievers so far? No way to develop any consistent flow in BP usage. I think it is amazing that the boys are 8 over .500 and still sniffing playoffs. I think, especially this year, that Bell has gotten far too much criticism and not enough respect, given what he has had to work with.
I don’t blame Krall. It is also his first year on the job, and that situation was on very short notice. I give him another year, two if Covid boogers up next year, to see what he can do when he has had adequate time to put his own ideas in place. This is still basically a Williams team.
Base hit scores 2 … C’mon Nick!!! One more today on the green stuff.
He was looking to put that one on Waveland Avenue
And it’s on Givens to nail this down and tame the Cubbie Bears
OK, strap in for another wild ride in the 9th in a close game!
This is a much better baseball game
Roster construction against lefties is awful. Givens bring it home !
A win tonight gets the Reds to 74 wins and 3 wins away from winningest season since 2013
Bode is another one who seems to kill us.
Whew!!!
Givens touched 97 on that last strike … SWEET!
Rats. Winning run on board. C’mon guys!
Time to exhale and head for bed. Back at it tomorrow evening.
I sleep better knowing the Reds have won …
Finally. Reds win. Hope this begins a long streak….
Never easy , never !
Alright, great work… hopefully this sparks something
Philles will lose, STL might lose… SD underway. A SD loss ties us for WC2 again