With the regular season winding down, the Chicago Cubs hope to find some consistency and momentum as they look to even their three-game series against the host Cincinnati Reds on Saturday night.
The Cubs (85-69) dropped the opener 6-4 on Friday. They erased a 2-0 hole and turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 advantage for their only lead of the game, but a three-run sixth by Cincinnati put Chicago behind again for good.
The Cubs entered the series having taken two of three games from the National League East-leading Atlanta Braves. Chicago is tied for the first NL wild-card spot with the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres.
Yet despite their struggles of late — the Cubs have lost three of their past five games — they haven’t lost their belief.
“I don’t think we’ve ever lost sight of what our potential is. We still feel like we can absolutely be the last team standing,” designated hitter Michael Conforto said earlier this week. “Regardless of what the standings say or what’s going on in the division, it doesn’t change the fact that we feel like we can win the rest of the series through the end of October.”
The Cubs have eight games remaining, including series against the Miami Marlins and Boston Red Sox to close the season.
Capitalizing with men on base will be one area where Chicago will look for better results on Saturday. The Cubs went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position on Friday.
Trailing 2-0 in the second, they cut the deficit in half and then had the bases loaded with one out and Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki next at the plate. But Reds starter Chase Burns struck both out to retire the side.
Matthew Boyd (8-5, 4.16 ERA) will start for the Cubs on Saturday. The left-hander is 2-3 with a 6.32 ERA in six career starts against Cincinnati.
The Reds (72-82) will counter with Nick Lodolo (3-5, 5.12 ERA) as they look to take the series. Lodolo is coming off his longest outing of the season, going seven innings and taking the loss in a 4-1 setback against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday. The lefty, who hasn’t won a start since July 5, is 2-2 with a 4.53 ERA in 10 career starts against the Cubs.
Cincinnati is eyeing its first series victory since earlier this month, when it won two of three games against another division foe, the majors-leading Milwaukee Brewers. It was the Reds’ third straight series triumph, which began with taking two of three games against the Cubs in Chicago.
On Friday, with the bases loaded in the sixth inning, Jose Trevino delivered a single that drove in JJ Bleday and Eugenio Suarez to put the Reds ahead 6-4. Suarez’s hit two batters earlier allowed Elly De La Cruz to tie the game at 4-4.
“Just take the moment for what it is, whether you succeed in it, great. If you fail in it, it’s ok, you learn from it,” said Trevino, 33. “Been in plenty of those situations my whole career. I tend to gravitate to, and like, those situations. I don’t know why.”
–Field Level Media
