Reds vs. Cubs Preview
CHICAGO (AP) – While it’s too late for any realistic playoff hopes, the Chicago Cubs’ longest win streak in nearly three years has brought a small measure of affirmation.
The Cubs will try to add to their seven-game run Sunday by completing a three-game sweep of the slumping Cincinnati Reds.
Chicago (49-65) hadn’t won more than three consecutive games this season before its current streak, which matches a seven-game run from August 2008. The Cubs also claimed a season-high nine straight victories from May 26-June 3 during that 97-win campaign.
According to MLB odds and oddsmakers have made the Reds -105 money line favorites for Sunday’s game against the Cubs. Current MLB Public Betting Information shows that 51% of more than 1,893 bets for this game have been placed on the Reds -105.
Potent hitting and improved fielding have led the way during this streak. Chicago is batting .296 – 34 points above its season average – while outscoring opponents 45-25, and the Cubs have just one error over their last seven games after committing a major league-worst 93 in their first 107.
“We’ve been playing outstanding the last (seven) games,” pitcher Carlos Zambrano said. “We’ve been doing the right things, playing good defense. We’ve been doing the things everybody was expecting from us. That’s what this team is capable of. We have a good team.”
They went error-free for the fourth consecutive game Saturday and plated 11 runs for the second time in five contests.
Starlin Castro had a season-high four RBIs during that 11-4 victory and Carlos Pena drove in three runs.
Castro also scored at least one run in his eighth straight game and extended his hit streak to seven with a 2-for-5 performance. The shortstop is 16 for 32 with seven RBIs and five multi-hit games during his streak, which he’ll try to extend against the struggling Bronson Arroyo (7-9, 5.45 ERA).
The Reds right-hander is 0-3 with a 6.57 ERA over his last six starts, but he tied a season high by going eight innings Monday in Houston. He retired 18 of 19 batters during one stretch, including 12 in a row, but also gave up three early runs during Cincinnati’s 4-3, 10-inning defeat.
Arroyo is 0-2 in his last three starts against the Cubs, including a 4-1 defeat June 8, but he’s 4-0 with a 1.95 ERA in his last five outings at Wrigley Field. He yielded one run over 7 1-3 innings there May 7 but Francisco Cordero gave up two runs in the ninth to send the Reds to a 3-2 defeat.
Cincinnati (54-59) enters this game having lost 11 of 15 on the road and eight of 12 overall, including three in a row.
Randy Wells (3-4, 5.89) will try to extend those woes and record his third win in four starts. The right-hander matched a season high with seven strikeouts and gave up two runs over six innings during his last outing in an 11-6 win in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
Wells is 4-1 with a 2.64 ERA in seven career starts against the Reds but hasn’t faced them this season.
There’s a possibility Brandon Phillips could return to bat against Wells despite a scary collision with a sliding Drew Stubbs in the fourth inning Saturday. Phillips was diagnosed with a sprained right ankle and is day-to-day.
“That was a blessing that my foot was in the air a little bit and I had on the rubber cleats today. If I had on my metal cleats today, I probably would have been done,” said Phillips, who is batting .351 with 11 RBIs over his last 14 games.
The Cubs are going for their first three-game sweep of the Reds since July 24-26, 2009, also at Wrigley.
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