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Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds Preview, Sunday 4/22, 1:20 CT

By Al Yellon
Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs center fielder Tony Campana loses the ball in the sun in the seventh inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field. Credit: David Banks-US PRESSWIRE
Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs center fielder Tony Campana loses the ball in the sun in the seventh inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field. Credit: David Banks-US PRESSWIRE

Randy Wells will be added to the 25-man roster to start this afternoon's game. He replaces the traded Marlon Byrd; the roster is back to 12 pitchers and 13 position players, after spending one day with 11 pitchers after Ryan Dempster was placed on the DL Saturday and replaced by Tony Campana.

Bruce Miles adds some intrigue:

So who goes to allow Michael Bowden to join the bullpen? It could be Shawn Camp. Or, consider this: the next turn for a pitcher taking Dempster's spot would come up on Saturday, April 28 in Philadelphia. If Wells has a good outing today, it might be him, and Camp (or Scott Maine, though I suspect the Cubs would like to keep two lefties in the bullpen) could go.

If he doesn't... maybe Rodrigo Lopez takes that April 28 turn (yes, please note I actually suggested giving a start to RoLo). Because of the off day, the following date where that rotation spot comes up would be May 3. Dempster would be eligible to come off the DL that day. So it's only one more start after today, to take Dempster's place.

We'll find out tomorrow. In the meantime, let's hope Randy Wells throws better than he has at Iowa this year.

Cubs lineup:

DeJesus rf, Campana cf, Castro ss, LaHair 1b, Soriano lf, Stewart 3b, Soto c, DeWitt 2b, Wells p

Reds lineup:

Cozart ss, Stubbs cf, Votto 1b, Ludwick lf, Bruce rf, Rolen 3b, Harris 2b, Hanigan c, Cueto p
Today's Starting Pitchers
Randy Wells
Randy Wells
Cubs		 vs. Johnny Cueto
Johnny Cueto
Reds
making W-L 1-0
his ERA 1.89
2012 SO 12
season BB 4
debut HR 2
vs. Cin -- vs. Cubs
W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2012 - Johnny Cueto 1-0 3 3 0 0 0 0 19.0 17 4 4 2 4 12 1.89 1.11

As noted above, Randy Wells did not pitch well at Iowa this year (9.42 ERA in three starts, with 16 earned runs allowed in 14⅓ innings, a 1.535 WHIP, and three home runs given up). Neither did he pitch very well in two starts against the Reds in 2011 (nine earned runs and five home runs allowed in 12⅓ innings). Current Reds are hitting .293 (40-for-141) against him with eight home runs. Even more clearly than usual, we are doomed. (Or, maybe Randy will surprise us today. Let's hope.)

Johnny Cueto is off to a good start this year and made three starts against the Cubs in 2011. The first one was good (no ER in six innings, his first start of 2011 after being on the DL); the second one not so good (five earned runs in 3⅔ innings). The third one, September 14 at Cincinnati, resulted in him leaving after 3⅔ scoreless innings and being shut down for the rest of the year. So what might happen today? Who knows? The Cub who hits him best is Alfonso Soriano (10-for-32, .313, three home runs).

Today's game is on WGN. Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Reds site Red Reporter. Careful over there -- they don't seem to like us much.

Today's first pitch thread will post at 1:20 p.m. CDT and the overflows at 2:20, 3:20 and 4:05 p.m. CDT. If you need more overflows due to extra innings or rain delays, post them in the fanshot section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

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