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Cubs vs. Reds: Series Thread (Games 82-84)
The Cubs lost six straight, including a sweep to the Brewers, to drop to 42-39, good for second place in the division and 6.5 back of said Milwaukee club. They have three games remaining on the road trip and ten games total before the All-Star Break. Six of those remaining ten games will be against NL Central teams currently trailing the Cubs, starting off with a 3-game set in Cincinnati and concluding with a 3-game home series against the Cards. See below for the pitching matchups over the holiday weekend.
Game 82, Friday, July 2, 6:10 pm central
CHC: RHP Alec Mills (3-1, 5.11 ERA)
CIN: RHP Sonny Gray (1-4, 3.42 ERA)
Mills more or less worked around eight hits and two walks over four innings to surrender only two earned runs in Los Angeles. That marks a season high for him for hits allowed in an outing. Nick Castellanos is 4-7 off of him with a homerun and a double. Joey Votto is 1-11 and Mill has struck out Eugenio Suarez seven times in 14 at-bats.
Gray has maintained his usual low ERA and sterling strikeout rates in 2021, but he has made only 10 starts in the first half and has not made it into the fifth inning in half of those starts. The Reds, in the meantime, have one of the weaker bullpens in the majors and could really use some more length out of the veteran righty. Gray has not faced the Cubs in 2021, which is too bad for him because history suggests it would only help his overall numbers.
Game 83, Saturday, July 3, 3:10 pm central
CHC: RHP Adbert Alzolay (4-7, 4.55 ERA)
CIN: RHP Tyler Mahle (7-3, 3.74 ERA)
Alzoloy was completely out-of-whack during his last start, missing badly out of the zone and then in the zone. He managed to labor through only three innings. He'll have a chance to forget that one as he faces the Reds for the first time in 2021.
Mahle, who broke in with the Reds in 2017, took a big step forward in the shortened 2020 season. In his age 26 season he has maintained the high strikeout rate that lead to that success and added to it a groundball rate closer to his career average. He's 1-0 against the Cubs in two starts this year, having dodged a loss in the first one despite allowing six earned runs and taking home the win after five shutout innings in the second start. Kris Bryant is 5-15 with two homeruns off of Mahle--will he back from side soreness in time to face off against him?
Game 84, July 4, 12:10 pm central
CHC: RHP Kyle Hendricks (10-4, 3.98 ERA)
CIN: LHP Wade Miley (6-4, 3.09 ERA)
You know who it turns out is a pretty good pitcher? Kyle Hendricks. After a few concerning starts near the beginning of the season, Hendricks has gone on to lead the NL in wins in the first half at 10. He went six innings in Milwaukee but allowed four earned runs on seven hits and a pair of walks. This will be his first start against the Reds in 2021. He's is the proud owner of a 6.67 ERA at Great American Ballpark over ten career starts and 55.1 innings pitched. He's allowed ten homeruns there.
Wade Miley is enjoying one of the better and possibly the best season of his career so far. In June, he compiled a 2.81 ERA and struck out 29 batters compared to 8 walks. He defeated the Cubs back on April 30, allowing two earned runs over five innings. Bryant and Contreras have both fared well off of him in the past, going 13-31; Bryant has a pair of homers off of him, the only long-balls against Miley by any current Cub.
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