These two teams played a crazy game on Friday afternoon to get the series started. The Reds had a big 5-run 6th inning to take a lead and then barely held on for a 10-8 win over the Cubs. Today Cincinnati and Chicago get back on the field in the afternoon for game two of their 3-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 2:20pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Cincinnati Reds | Chicago Cubs |
| Hector Rodriguez – RF | Pete Crow-Armstrong – CF |
| Elly De La Cruz – SS | Seiya Suzuki – DH |
| Sal Stewart – 1B | Alex Bregman – 3B |
| JJ Bleday – LF | Michael Busch – 1B |
| Tyler Stephenson – DH | Nico Hoerner – SS |
| Eugenio Suarez – 3B | Matt Shaw – RF |
| Jose Trevino – C | Tyrone Taylor – LF |
| TJ Friedl – CF | Pedro Ramirez – 2B |
| Matt McLain – 2B | Carson Kelly – C |
| Andrew Abbott – LHP | Kevin Gausman – RHP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Andrew Abbott | 145.1 | 4.15 | 1.40 | 68 | 114 |
| Kevin Gausman | 150.1 | 4.37 | 1.26 | 41 | 149 |
| Links: Andrew Abbott’s Stats | Kevin Gausman’s Stats | |||||
Andrew Abbott
The season has been one of ups and downs for Abbott. He struggle big time early in the year and then he was very good for two months. But the lefty has been inconsistent over the last seven weeks where he’s made nine starts with a 4.65 ERA. Abbott has faced the Cubs twice this season. Back in May he threw 5.2 shutout innings against them in a game the Reds eventually lost in extras. In his final start before the All-Star break he gave up four earned runs to them in 4.0 innings in what was another loss.
The splits against Abbott on the season aren’t that big. Lefties and righties have basically hit exactly the same against him on the year, but left-handed batters almost never walk against him while right-handed batters are walking a lot against him. That said, lefties haven’t hit much at all off of him since the end of April – they just absolutely lit him up in the first month of the year and his numbers haven’t quite recovered fully. Not shown below is that Abbott is better on the road in 2026 where his ERA is 3.57 (4.78 at home).
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 464 | 98 | 16 | 1 | 14 | 58 | 68 | .245 | .338 | .395 |
| LHH | 166 | 38 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 46 | .248 | .289 | .392 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-seam | Cutter | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 92.5 | 88.8 | 79.7 | 82.1 | 86.1 |
| Usage | 45% | 3% | 13% | 20% | 19% |
Kevin Gausman
A trade deadline acquisition, Gausman spent most of 2026 with the Toronto Blue Jays. He has now made four starts with the Cubs. He’s been good in two, iffy in one, and bad in the other. Inconsistency was an issue this season with Toronto, too. When he was on, he was really on. But he also had a few downright horrible starts to go with some real good ones with the Blue Jays.
The splits against Gausman this season basically don’t exist. Left-handed hitters are making more contact, but they are hitting for a slightly lower average. Righties have small advantages in batting average and slugging percentage, but the OPS is just nine points difference.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 270 | 66 | 9 | 1 | 9 | 13 | 70 | .262 | .300 | .413 |
| LHH | 363 | 83 | 16 | 2 | 9 | 28 | 79 | .252 | .308 | .395 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-seam | Slider | Split | |
| Velo | 94.0 | 84.2 | 84.2 |
| Usage | 51% | 9% | 39% |
When and Where
- Game time: 2:20pm ET
- Where: Wrigley Field
- Watch: Reds MLB Channel, Reds.tv (in-market), MLB.tv (out of market).
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 79°, cloudy, 5% chance of rain
News and Notes
Rehabbing Red
Graham Ashcraft made his second rehab appearance with Triple-A Louisville last night. He threw a perfect inning with two strikeouts, throwing just 11 pitches in the process. His cutter averaged 96.4 MPH and topped out at 97.4.
Division Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Milwaukee | 84 | 51 | 0.0 | 100.0% |
| Chicago | 76 | 59 | 8.0 | 97.6% |
| St. Louis | 68 | 68 | 16.5 | 2.8% |
| Pittsburgh | 65 | 71 | 19.5 | 0.7% |
| Cincinnati | 64 | 71 | 20.0 | 0.0% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||
Biggest goal left in my opinion is to spoil the Cubs season if we can help prevent them from getting in the wild card spot !!
We really, Really, REALLY need the bestest version of AA to show up this afternoon. Held on yesterday for our life. Let’s see if we can set up another beatdown on these Stupid Cubs.
Would like to see if Arroyo can play third base. Can his arm cover it. Time to experiment.
Experiment AFTER we play the Stupid Cubs … but I agree. There are those who might chime in with the old saw “His bat doesn’t play there” … 😉
Not that concerned about where he plays. If he can hit ML pitching he’ll find a spot on a team that desperately needs it.
Charlie Goldsmith reports that Arroyo will start at 3B tomorrow. Also, he said the Reds have no plans to play McLain in CF to open 2B for Arroyo.
The “experiment” started when he was called up to play 2nd base for the major league team. That, clearly, didn’t go well. He has played in 5 games at 3rd base for Louisville and now has been recalled to the big league team and will be inserted at 3rd base tomorrow. Hopefully (there’s that word again), he can settle in there and be able to concentrate more on generating productive at-bats. It’s a wide open lane to solidify a spot on the big league roster, going forward. There’s really not much more he can ask for.
Today’s trivia: How many players reached the 3000-hit plateau? Everyone knows Rose and Cobb are #s 1 and 2: Who was third on the list?
That guy they called Hammerin’
The “natural” all time HR leader. What a great player. Hit for average and power.
Two of the greatest MLB players of my lifetime (maybe THE two greatest). Aaron and Mays. Both born in southern Alabama in early 1930s.
There’s a very good argument to be made that they definitely are.
A couple of us guys from our H.S. baseball team skipped class and got standing room only on Opening Day 1954 with the Reds and Braves. That was Hank Aaron’s first ML game.
I was thinking it was Bernie Mac … but only after he came out of retirement to do it 😀
Bernie Mac came up one hit shy, finishing at 2,999. He did get the girl, however.
And a cotton candy start for the Good Guys in the top of the first.
Nice to see we could feed John’s man-crush this early in the game … 😐
I’ll go back to football if this keeps up. We’re using the same wind, but not in the same way.
Old friend Kevin Gausman pitched 22 innings for the Reds back in 2019.
Bats better get going today.
When AA has a bad spell, he really has a bad spell.
At the end it’ll be how important is WAR as an indicator for ROY award, 4.7 for Wetherholt vs. 2.0 for Stewart so far.
Playing from behind again. But the way AA throwing, Cubs will score a bunch more.
QB1 stays on fire.
Geno!!! 3-2.
Could be in for a wild and crazy game.
Home run derby today?
+50,000
Low 90s fastball over the plate. See if Sal can get a hold of a couple of them.
Hopefully Abbott got his “bad” inning out of the way!
OK, got 2 of them back.
Abbott absolutely NOT fooling any of the Cubs batters! Geeeesh!
Dumb throw in. Got to learn from that HRod.
As I said, Cubs will score a bunch more. SMH.
So much for Abbott bouncing back in his 2nd inning of work!
Gonna be a long day for us … but probably a short one for me. AA is tossing meatballs. And Sadak prattles on about his “buddy” …
Nice snag by Elly.
Abbott just does not have good enough stuff for a day like today.
Yet we’re using the exact same wind … but not getting the same results.
Let’s see what we learned with the 2nd time through coming up.
Man, if the Reds could just face normal pitchers with normal velo all the time they’d be fine.
I am jumping up and down. Sal got a hold of that one. Wish I am at the ballgame to see this Hr derby.
Sal just needs to keep piling up the stats and dare them not to give him the ROY.
Predictions and opinions and odds don’t cast the vote in the end. We’ll only know when the results are announced.
Time to break the pattern where they score 3 and we score 2. The math on that still puts us further behind.
Good for Sal to smash that one with Elly on.
I thought the Reds were a cinch to win today with no Ian Happ in the lineup! Guess not!
Another Wrigley Ivy Double (fortunately).
Please play Arroyo Mclain is awful, time to move on.
He chases and hits too many fly balls but his job is safe regardless.
I don’t know why.
And the statue play 😐
2 abysmal PA by McLain and HJR
I apologize I took a nap. Maybe my Good Vibes will change things 🙂
Good grief, Abbott! 3 consecutive singles! All with a 2-strike count on the batter!
Time to start the comeback!
AA certainly did not do his job today.Pen having to cover 5 or 6 innings is all on him.Bad time after yesterday to see this happen.
Gausman at 95 pitches! Time to make him pay!
Good job by JJ to plate the Reds 5th run with a sac fly!
Cubs know Garcia is just throwing the sweeper pitch after pitch after pitch.Wake up this is the big leagues try something else.Two strikes here’s the sweeper come on.
OK. I do believe I’m done for today. I know this is a day and park where “no lead is safe” but they are hitting and we aren’t. That’s about the sum of things.
Awful and awful again.Just awful pitch calling then boom and ball game.
Looking like time to switch to college football! Cubs are wearing their hitting shoes today!
Now they start throwing fast balls.What a joke.
Reds pitching has played into the Cubs hand today. Nobody can throw a fastball, with location.
Use Pierce Johnson and Tiger to finish this up and call it a day.
Sam with nothing to gain our lose gets them in order on 11 pitches.Great job.
The Reds bats have really cooled off in this game, same old story too many easy outs, with Mclain leading the way.
Well so far all I have is reds have scored 5 runs. Normally that can get ya a win. Not today!!!!
There are some on this RLN site who espouse that SOs are a meaningless statistic! I respectfully disagree! If the Reds batters are striking out at a double-digit frequency per game that means they are not putting the ball in play, especially with RISP!
Take today’s game for example! The Reds lineup has racked up 9 SOs so far thru 6 innings! The Cubs have only 4 SOs so far!
I agree, it doesnt make since to suggest so don’t matter. You cant drive in a strikeout!!!
Dennis, the issue at hand is more so that the number of strikeouts by a team does not correlate to the number of runs that team scores all that well.
Strikeouts make the game more boring. But they don’t lead to fewer runs.
I disagree Doug. Striking out doesn’t help a team. If your not on base, you cant score.
You can’t really disagree, Kevin. The correlation between strikeouts and runs scored is very low. This is a verifiable fact.
I mean I guess you can disagree, but it’s like saying that 2+7 doesn’t equal nine.
And let’s be clear – I didn’t say striking out helped the team or that it was good. I said that strikeouts don’t correlate to scoring runs all that much.
A lot of things correlate to scoring runs far more than strikeouts do, which means that those events are far more consequential to putting runs on the board (or not putting runs on the board).
I often wonder if Elly didnt get hurt. If Reds would of won a few more games. He was hot when he got injured!!
I suppose it doesn’t matter now.
I agree with Cowboy Myers should have batted for Bleday.
Tiger is not ready.
Why is Santillian still a Red? Absolutely terrible.
I just tuned into the game….good thing the season is over for all real purposes …..the only thing i am really interested in is that Sal keeps getting RBI’s….at least he has brought some joy to this unforgettable season
Explain why Trevino is pitching the 8th after throwing all of two pitches in the 7th?
So that Pierce Johnson can pitch in a game that might matter tomorrow.
My observations from watching the wayhow you have to pitch the Cubs lineup is that you must pitch them inside by making them less comfortable in the batters box then work all areas of the strike zone,you have to control the bottom third of their lineup so that PCA isn’t coming up the second,third,and fourth time around with constant baserunners on giving him more opportunities to do damage,they are a patient hitting team that take more pitches that any other team in the league so whenever the Reds pitching staff faces them you must make them earn their way on base instead of giving them free 90 feet and non competitive four and five pitches well outside the strike zone,you must not nibble too much because they don’t always chase,trust your stuff otherwise Francona won’t send you out there if he doesn’t have any confidence in your ability to pitch.
My observations from watching the wayhow you have to pitch the Cubs lineup is that you must pitch them inside by making them less comfortable in the batters box then work all areas of the strike zone,you have to control the bottom third of their lineup so that PCA isn’t coming up the second,third,and fourth time around with constant baserunners on giving him more opportunities to do damage,they are a patient hitting team that take more pitches that any other team in the league so whenever the Reds pitching staff faces them you must make them earn their way on base instead of giving them free 90 feet and non competitive four and five pitches well outside the strike zone,you must not nibble too much because they don’t always chase,trust your stuff otherwise Francona won’t send you out there if he doesn’t have any confidence in your ability to pitch.