Cincinnati @ Chicago preview
Wrigley Field
Last Meeting ( Jun 12, 2015 ) Cincinnati 5, Chi. Cubs 4
The Cincinnati Reds are playing their best baseball of the season and look to get within three games of .500 for the first time in nearly a month when they continue their road series with the Chicago Cubs on Saturday. The Reds have won five of their last six, including a 5-4 victory in 10 innings Friday to even their four-game series against the Cubs.
Chicago dug out of an early 3-0 hole to tie it at 4 on Starlin Castro's two-run blast Friday but was unable to pull off its third straight victory and its fifth in six games. The loss was only the second in seven meetings with Cincinnati this season as the Cubs aim to win the season series for the first time since 2009. Two unlikely sources helped lift the Reds on Friday, as slugger Jay Bruce robbed Jonathan Herrera of a potential game-winning hit with a diving catch in the ninth and light-hitting infielder Eugenio Suarez singled home the go-ahead run in the 10th. Reds right-hander Mike Leake faces the Cubs for the third time this season after taking a pair of no-decisions in April, going seven innings in each and allowing a total of seven runs.
TV: 7:15 p.m. ET, FOX
PITCHING MATCHUP: Reds RH Mike Leake (3-4, 4.29 ERA) vs. Cubs RH Kyle Hendricks (2-2, 3.96)
The Reds lost five straight games Leake started before the 27-year-old broke through in his last turn. He held Philadelphia to three runs (two earned) over six innings to pick up his first win since May 6 and has recorded consecutive quality starts after allowing five or more runs in each of his previous three outings. Leake is 8-2 with a 3.19 ERA in 17 career starts against the Cubs and is 3-2 with a 4.10 ERA in nine outings at Wrigley Field.
After going winless in his first seven starts in 2015, Hendricks has picked up victories in two of his last four turns. The 25-year-old won at Washington last time out, allowing three runs (two earned) in five innings. Hendricks was 1-0 with a 3.46 ERA in two starts against the Reds as a rookie last season.
WALK-OFFS
1. Chicago LF Chris Coghlan is 9-for-11 with three doubles and two homers versus Leake.
2. Reds 1B Joey Votto has reached safely in 21 consecutive games, tied for the second-longest active streak in the majors.
3. Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo, who went hitless Friday for only the second time in his last 16 games, is 10-for-25 with two doubles and two homers against Leake.
PREDICTION: Cubs 4, Reds 2