Reds @ Cubs: Stephens vs Lester (Game 161)

Submitted by CTSteve on Sat, 09/30/2017 - 5:43am

CIN (82-77): RHP Jackson Stephens (2-0, 3.86) 
CHC (91-69): LHP Jon Lester (12-8, 4.46) 
First pitch: 3:05pmCST

Lester rebounded from whatever that was in Tampa Bay to beat the Cards on Monday, giving up 1 ER in 6 innings. In three 2017 starts, he’s 1-0 with a 10.13 against the Reds. Overall, they are 46-166 (.277) against him. Hamilton is 7-17 with 2 HR, and Suarez is 8-25 with 2 HR.

Stephens chalked up his first Major League win in his debut against the Cubs on July 1 (5 IP, 3 ER, 8 K, 1 BB). He had a 6-inning, 1 ER no-decision against the Red Sox his last time out. The Cubs are 6-18 (.333) against him. Jay is 2-3 with a HR.

It’s McGuire (0-1) and Montgomery (7-8) in the final game of the regular season tomorrow at 2:20pmCST.

Go Cubs! 
 

Tags: 
2017 Season Game Thread

Comments

Submitted by crunch  on Sat, 09/30/2017 - 3:09pm  
the A-team backing up lester. maybe he can move that ERA below 4.40 :( what a waste of a season for lester...worst since 2012. it's not a useless performance, but it's some real end-of-rotation quality stuff.

Submitted by billybucks  on Sat, 09/30/2017 - 3:50pm  
Strange year for Lester: - Remove his 3 terrible starts and his ERA drops to 3.67. - 10 starts allowing 1 run or less -- including his first 3 and 2 of this last 4. So, not consistently terrible, but not reliable either.

Submitted by crunch  on Sat, 09/30/2017 - 4:06pm  
working deeper counts (and more walks to show for it) chipped away at his innings, too. 32 starts and he'll finish 25-ish IP off his usual workload...that's nearly 4 starts worth of innings. hopefully he'll turn that around in 2018...oh, and the post-season.

Submitted by Cubster  on Sat, 09/30/2017 - 5:30pm  
that's nearly 4 starts worth of innings. ---- Here are the four worst starts: Approximately 20 of the 25 innings can be accounted for if you project 6-7 IP for these games. The 10 spot in 0.2 IP vs Pitt and the 9 spot in 1.2 innings vs Reds. 6 runs in 3.1 IP vs LA and 3 runs in 4 IP vs Snakes (even though they won that game 16-4. http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/id/2...

Submitted by crunch  on Sat, 09/30/2017 - 3:38pm  
schwarb gets HR #30...crushed to CF. bryant on #29 coming into the game today. if he gets #30 today or tomorrow that will be 3 30+ HR guys.

Submitted by billybucks  on Sat, 09/30/2017 - 3:41pm  
Nice for Schwarber!

Submitted by crunch  on Sat, 09/30/2017 - 4:18pm  
the current "bleacher culture" sure is something we didn't see in the 80s and 90s...and probably before, but that's before my time since i was a toddler for my chunk of the 70s. there's a "suburban-family-looking" mom out there with 2 small children and a baby. one of the children is holding up a sign announcing it's the baby's first game. the mom is busy digging around in a diaper bag while messing with her cell phone. *shrug* the classic oldschool bleacher creatures seem to have left the bleachers long ago, anyway. things change.

Submitted by crunch  on Sat, 09/30/2017 - 4:46pm  
la stella with a 17 pitch AB for a K. 12 foul balls. longest AB of the season by a cub.

Submitted by crunch  on Sat, 09/30/2017 - 7:19pm  
"Max Scherzer left Saturday's game in the fourth inning with an apparent leg injury." a 2-week injury would be nice about right now.

Submitted by crunch  on Sat, 09/30/2017 - 9:26pm  
it's supposedly a "right hamstring cramp" 2 hours to report it was a cramp...okay, then.

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The first 600 characters of the last 16 comments, click "View" to see rest of comment.
  • George Altman 2 hours 21 min ago (view)

    The single thing I want in a sports broadcast is to become smarter about the sport,  to learn something from the broadcast crew.

    Stone does that, Romo does that, Eddie O on hockey, and that's about it. I watch sporting events with the sound down very low or off. I forgot more about baseball than most broadcasters will ever know, and I'm always shocked when I see something in a football game that the crew doesn't,  and I know about NOTHING about football. 

     
  • First.Pitch.120 4 hours 41 min ago (view)

    Also... what is with only having 2 dots as the outs counter? I know that you don't really need the 3rd dot, but I find it counter-intuitive. If the dots fill in, then only having 2 throws me off b/c it's natural to subitize "3" associated with outs. You quickly see 0/3, 1/3, 2/3.  If the graphic does not have fill-in dots, then just put the #.  eg - OUTS: 1  It's minimalism for the sake of minimalism, not graphic design for effective communication.

     
  • crunch 5 hours 12 min ago (view)

    tight shots + insane amount of screen real estate being taken up with graphics is a bit of a plague...especially the ones with a non-stop bottom news ticker.

     
  • First.Pitch.120 5 hours 34 min ago (view)

    General comment on baseball broadcasting... I think that the color comentator (CC) needs to talk about 30% more & the PBP about 30% less. I would love a more stream of consciousness from the CC outlining what they would be looking for in a given situation. To that end, why not have 2 CC for national broadcasts - one a pitcher & one a position player. Would love for them to banter back & forth on micro strategy from their perspectives. I think this would turn the game's pauses between action into more of an asset.

     
  • crunch 6 hours 57 min ago (view)

    brews sign j.bradley 2/24m...decent deal for a quality CF'r.  he can opt out of the 2nd year.

     
  • crunch 7 hours 37 min ago (view)

    the national broadcasts on ESPN suffer badly from a lack of "homework" on the teams they're covering.

    yesterday i heard more riffing between the announcers about each other more than the players.  the only thing that saved them from more of that and dead air was in-progress action and player interviews (too many player interviews, but it's spring so whatever).

     
  • Hagsag 10 hours 13 min ago (view)

    Not impressed with ESPN's broadcast. I like Mendoza's work, but how many kids did we have to see rolling around the grass. Good day to see some young players ,but half the time you had no idea who was batting or pitching.

     
  • crunch 19 hours 5 min ago (view)

    cubs game totally not a delay broadcast for ESPN...thanks for that gem heyward.

    dunno if they'll be printing up any "You better have your shit in line" t-shirts, but it's as least as good as "Try not to suck"

     
  • Dolorous Jon Lester 21 hours 5 min ago (view)

    Jason Adam is another who throws short arm. I don't think he was a position player, but maybe falls into the arm injury category?

     
  • Sonicwind75 1 day 28 min ago (view)

    Thanks Phil, these pitching summaries are great!

     
  • Eric S 1 day 1 hour ago (view)

    Thanks, AZ Phil.  Looks like a better use of the off-season by Maples than Carl Jr's hop-in-delivery was a few years ago - and not against the rules either. 

     
  • Arizona Phil 1 day 1 hour ago (view)

    Even though he is signed to a minor lesague contract and is not on the MLB 40-man roster right now, I would think Eric Sogard is a virtual lock to make the Cubs Opening Day Active List 26-man roster. 

    The Cubs were reportedly looking to sign a left-handed hitting second-baseman, and Sogard certainly fits that description. And unlike Jason Kipnis, Sogard has the versatility to play 3B and SS as well as 2B. 

     
  • Arizona Phil 1 day 2 hours ago (view)

    ERIC: Just as you said, the short-arm technique can improve command, hopefully without impacting the quality of a pitcher's stuff.

    Based on what I saw yesterday, Maples' stuff is as good as ever, and his command was better, too. Hopefully it will continue, because he probably has the best pure stuff on the staff. Command has always been the problem.  

     
  • Arizona Phil 1 day 2 hours ago (view)

    CUBSTER: Unless there is a wave of pitcher injuries in Spring Training I would think Shelby Miller will probably begin the season at AAA (or at the ATS, since the start of the AAA season is supposely going to be delayed) where he can get stretched out.

     
  • Eric S 1 day 3 hours ago (view)

    Ha! I wish that was the case!

     
  • Dolorous Jon Lester 1 day 4 hours ago (view)

    Eric S.... you wouldn't happen to be new Cubs NRI Eric Sogard would you????

     
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