Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds preview, Friday 6/22, 6:10 CT

Thursday night, the Cubs and Reds played without weather issues, but tonight, they might not be so lucky. Rain might interrupt tonight’s game.

And so, this is here again for your convenience:

Roster notes:

Assuming Brian Duensing is activated, I’ll make a separate post this afternoon on the roster move.

Today’s notes:

• Javier Baez, who had a two-run double Thursday night, has four extra-base hits (3 doubles, a triple) in his last two games after collecting just one in his previous 15 games from June 3-19. Javy’s 13 stolen bases lead the team, and have come in 14 attempts. His 92.9 percent stolen base success rate is tied with Mike Trout for the best in baseball.
• The Cubs are now 17-9 in their last 26 games since May 25, the most wins in the N.L. in that span and tied for second-most in the majors with the Astros and Mariners (the Yankees lead with 19).
• Anthony Rizzo’s 24 home runs against the Reds are fourth-most among active players, trailing only Albert Pujols (47), Ryan Braun (41) and Andrew McCutchen (29). Hopefully he adds to that total the rest of this series.
• Cubs starting pitchers are 9-7 with a 2.66 ERA (39 ER/132 IP) in the team’s last 23 games since May 28, with the club going 15-8 in those contests. Cubs starters have walked 56, struck out 101 and held the opponent to a .198 average (93-for-469) in that span, also holding the opposition to a .612 OPS.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Reds lineup:

Jose Quintana, LHP vs. Luis Castillo, RHP

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

We all keep waiting for Jose Quintana to show the consistency he did as a White Sox pitcher for several years. He’ll have a really good outing, like he did the last time the Cubs were in Cincinnati, and then follow it up with a clunker.

That start against the Reds May 19 (in the second game of a doubleheader) was his best of the year: one hit (though four walks) in seven innings. Q has a 2.70 ERA and 1.140 WHIP in three career starts vs. the Reds and current Reds are hitting .213 (13-for-61) with no home runs.

Luis Castillo had a solid rookie year for the Reds in 2017, but this year he has really struggled. Oddly, his only really good start of the year was in the first game of that May 19 doubleheader, when he allowed the Cubs just one run in five innings, the only start this year where he’s given up fewer than two runs. He did walk five in that game.

No Cub homered in that game, but Castillo leads the National League in home runs allowed with 17. It’s time for the Cubs to take advantage of that.

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. If you do go there to interact with Reds fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2018 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used during 2017. Here’s how it works.

You’ll find the game preview posted separately on the front page, two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page. The First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads will be published in that stream, as well as the recap. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post, and at the time I write the recap I will rename the stream “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads” so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.

You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread, all the overflow threads and recap in the box marked “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in the game’s StoryStream as noted above.

The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at one hour, two hours and 2:45 after the scheduled game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.