The Cincinnati Reds have ignited their offense in back-to-back games after it had been dormant far too many times over the last 2 1/2 weeks.
Fresh off erupting for 10 runs in consecutive contests, the visiting Reds will look to continue swinging hot bats on Saturday afternoon when they face the Chicago Cubs.
Cincinnati scored seven runs in the ninth inning to secure a 10-9 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday. On Friday, the Reds belted four homers to pick up a 10-8 win over the Cubs in the opener of a three-game series.
That’s not too shabby considering Cincinnati had scored one or fewer runs in nine of its previous 17 games.
“We’re just playing hard. Shows the resilience of this team,” rookie Sal Stewart said. … “We’re going out there playing to win. I’m glad we’re playing hard because that’s the standard that we have.”
Stewart launched his team-leading 29th homer of the season on Friday to give him his 101st RBI, breaking the franchise rookie record previously held by Jim Greengrass, who had 100 RBIs in 1953.
“You’ve got to drive in runs to win the game,” said Stewart, who added the go-ahead RBI single in the sixth inning.
Tyler Stephenson launched a three-run blast, while Jose Trevino and TJ Friedl each added solo shots.
Rookie Hector Rodriguez added an RBI single to extend his hitting streak to six games.
While Cincinnati has reason to feel good, Chicago has lost three in a row and six of its last eight games.
Although his team is struggling, Michael Busch has been heating up at the plate.
Busch belted a two-run homer in the third inning on Friday to mark the third time that he has gone deep in his last nine games. He also has three doubles and eight walks in that span.
Keeping Busch in check will be the responsibility of Cincinnati left-hander Andrew Abbott (6-9, 4.15 ERA), who will get the start on Saturday afternoon.
Abbott has dropped his last two starts after allowing four runs on seven hits in six innings in a 5-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks last Sunday.
He recorded a pair of no-decisions against Chicago this season, tossing 5 2/3 scoreless innings on May 5 and yielding four runs in four frames on July 12.
Abbott, 27, is 3-1 with a 2.79 ERA in nine career appearances (all starts) versus the Cubs.
Chicago right-hander Kevin Gausman (7-11, 4.37 ERA) will get the nod on Saturday afternoon.
Gausman scattered three hits over seven scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks on Monday to record his third win in his last five outings dating back to his last start with the Toronto Blue Jays.
“He’s a good energy guy, the work ethic is there,” catcher Carson Kelly said of Gausman. “I mean, he’s been doing this for such a long time and he’s a true pro and he wants the ball. You can see that every inning. It just seems like he gets stronger and stronger, and that’s something that our guys can really look at and build off of.”
Gausman, 35, is 1-4 with a 7.89 ERA in six career appearances (all starts) versus the Reds.
–Field Level Media
