In game 1 of the Cubs vs Reds 3-game series, the Cubs fell to the Reds 3-2 despite a good effort to try and win by the bullpen and some of the hitters, especially Rizzo and Contreras, who both had 2 hits. Monty had some rough innings about halfway through the game, so he ended up giving up 3 earned runs in 5 innings, striking out and walking 2 each. The bullpen was able to hold up the rest of the game well, combining for 4 no run innings with 3 hits, 5 strikeouts and 2 walks.
On the opposite end for the Reds, starter Tyler Mahle went 6.2 innings and only gave up 1 run, striking out 4 and walking 2. Billy Hamilton did really well on the hitting side of things, getting 3 hits and walking once and José Peraza also got 2 hits for them. This was Hamilton’s first 3-hit game since June 17 against the Pirates. Their bullpen didn’t do a great job of keeping Mahle’s great line going, giving up a run in 2.1 innings with 3 hits, a walk, and a strikeout.
This game marks the 10th time the Cubs have faced the Reds this year, and afterwards their record against them has worsened to 3-7 and it’s the 5th loss in a row against the Reds after the sweep against them back in late June. The loss also snapped the Cubs’ 6-game winning streak against the Dodgers, Twins, and Tigers. Their ERA against teh Reds has improved though to 4.20 from 4.33. They also have scored 41 runs against them in the 10 games in total, so as you can see it hasn’t been very good on the offensive front.
“I’m proud of the way I battled, but it’s definitely not the way I want to throw the ball. Credit to them. They have a good lineup and made it challenging as well.”-Cubs’ starter Montgomery
This game definitely wasn’t an easy one for the Cubs considering the Reds’ lineup is full of some stacked hitters, including .824 OPS Scott Schebler, .891 OPS Scooter Gennett, .864 OPS Joey Votto, and .963 OPS Eugenio Suárez. Montgomery has also been rocky starting his last 3 games. His first 5 starts in replacement of Yu Darvish saw him post a 1.21 ERA, but his last 3 saw him post a 5.63.
The Cubs saw the two runs from the game on a force out by Almora, which scored Contreras, and Zobrist’s sacrifice fly, which scored Baez. Sadly, the Cubs couldn’t capatalize further on those runs which meant that they were merely able to get those sacrifices.
There was a couple of great plays from Heyward on the defensive front though. In the top of the 2nd, Schebler hit a short fly ball to right field and J-Hey dove in and caught it. The second play happened during the top of the 6th with Randy Rosario pitching. There were men on first and second with two outs and Peraza was up. He hit a fly ball into right center between him and Almora, and Heyward dove toward center and made a snowcone grab, ending the inning. He even got some short applause from Peraza after the catch.
The Cubs return to Wrigley tomorrow at 1:20 to face off the Reds in game 2. Tyler Chatwood (4.54 ERA, 1.75 WHIP) is on the mound for the Cubs and Matt Harvey (4.91 ERA, 1.25 WHIP) is on the mound for the Reds.
The MLB Enthusiast 