Cincinnati @ Chicago preview
Wrigley Field
Last Meeting ( Aug 6, 2010 ) Cincinnati 3, Chi. Cubs 0
After making an impressive season debut, Edinson Volquez has hit a few bumps in the road in his comeback from shoulder surgery.
That's to be expected from any pitcher who had gone 13 1/2 months between starts while working his way back from Tommy John surgery.
Volquez (2-1) will make his fifth start of the season on Saturday afternoon for Cincinnati when the Reds take on the Chicago Cubs in the second of a three-game series at Wrigley Field.
In his first outing of the season on July 17, Volquez looked like he had never been away from the game, allowing one run on three hits in six innings against the Colorado Rockies. More impressively, he struck out nine and walked only two.
The 27-year-old right-hander regressed rather quickly the next two times he took the mound, failing to get out of the fourth inning in each start.
Volquez was better last time out, holding the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves to one run and three hits in five innings, but he also allowed five walks while striking out six.
It continued a troublesome pattern for Volquez - namely an inability to keep the ball from leaving the strike zone and from departing the ballpark.
In the last three starts spanning 11 innings, Volquez has allowed 14 hits and fanned 13, but he also has issued 13 bases on balls and surrendered four home runs.
Let's just say it isn't the formula for winning baseball.
Not that control has been Volquez's forte since he made it to the bigs in 2008, when he went 17-6 and was selected to the All-Star Game en route to winning National League Rookie of the Year honors.
Even against the Cubs, whom Volquez is 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA in two career starts, he has allowed more walks (10) than hits (eight) in 12 innings.
Volquez will look to make it three wins in three starts against the Cubs on Saturday – and hopefully in more economical fashion. He threw 96 pitches in just five innings against Atlanta.
Cincinnati won the series opener, 3-0, behind a splendid performance from Bronson Arroyo, who blanked Chicago on five hits over seven innings.
Ryan Hanigan’s two-run home was all the offense the Reds needed in sending the spiraling Cubs to their eighth loss in nine games.
Randy Wells gets the start on Saturday for the Cubs and will look to remain perfect against the NL Central leaders.
In five career starts vs. the Reds, Wells is 3-0 with a 2.30 ERA. That includes a 3-1 victory on July 3, when he held Cincinnati to one run on five hits in 7 2/3 innings.
That victory, however, marked just one of two wins Wells has since April 30 despite giving up just 15 runs in his last seven starts - seven of which came in Monday’s brutal 18-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.