Sadly, I won’t be able to watch most of today’s Cubs/Reds finale moving into my new place in Lincoln Park (farewell, Wrigleyville). So if you see a terrified 26-year-old dude driving a box truck about 50 MPH down 90 today … it’s me.
On the bright side, I should be able to catch most of it on the radio, as the Cubs attempt to escape Cincinnati with three wins.
To do so, they’ll need a good day from Yu Darvish, who’s making his second start since coming off the disabled list (flu). If you recall, Darvish’s first start back was abbreviated, but promising. Hopefully, with some more rest, he’ll be at 100% and deliver back-to-back great performances with Jose Quintana (if those two guys get on a roll, the Cubs are going to dominate).
Starting opposite Quintana is Reds righty Tyler Mahle. Mahle, 23, hasn’t had the greatest season (4.34 ERA, 5.01 FIP), but it hasn’t been terrible for such a young guy (there’s definitely some promise there, no doubt). His last start was a bit of a blowup (3.1 IP, 7H, 4ER, 1BB, 2Ks), but he straight-up dominated the Cubs in his first start of the year (6.0 IP, 1H, 2BB, 7Ks), so hopefully they learned something from that one.
A win today would bring the Cubs to six games over .500, tying their season high. Let’s do it.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (24-19) at Cincinnati Reds (16-31) – 12:10 CT on ABC-7, 670 The Score
Game Thread and Series Preview
Your game thread is down in the comments, so let’s have some good, clean (safe-for-work) fun today.
Starting Pitchers
Cubs: Yu Darvish (R): 5.56 ERA, 5.11 FIP; 2.33 K/BB
versus
Reds: Tyler Mahle (R): 4.34 ERA, 5.01 FIP; 2.88 K/BB
Cincinnati Reds Lineup:
- Alex Blandino, SS
- Eugenio Suarez, 3B
- Joey Votto, 1B
- Scooter Gennett, 2B
- Adam Duvall, LF
- Scott Schebler, CF
- Tucker Barnhart, C
- Tyler Mahle, P
- Billy Hamilton, CF
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Ian Happ, 3B
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Javy Baez, SS
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Yu Darvish, P