Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds preview, Sunday 8/30, 12:10 CT

Sunday notes...

• EVERYONE DIGS THE LONG BALL: Anthony Rizzo had his first multi-homer game of the season in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader. It was the 18th multi-homer game of his career. That’s tied for eighth-most in franchise history with Andre Dawson, Hank Sauer and Alfonso Soriano. Aramis Ramirez is seventh with 19.
• MORE RIZZO LONG BALL: Rizzo’s 31 home runs against the Reds, including three homers this series, are his most against one club (he has 27 against both the Brewers and Pirates).
• SWITCH-HITTING: Ian Happ’s 57 career home runs are just two short of the franchise mark for a switch-hitter, set by Augie Galan who hit 59 homers from 1934-41.
• MORE HAPP-ENSTANCE: In Happ’s last 41 games dating to September 21 of last season, he is hitting .326 (42-for-129) with 10 doubles, a triple, 12 homers, 29 RBI, a .435 on-base percentage, a .698 slugging percentage and a 1.133 OPS.
• WE WILL HAVE A NINTH INNING TODAY: Cubs hitters have batted a major-league best .350 (28-for-80) with a .404 OBP in the ninth inning this season.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Reds lineup:

Tyler Chatwood, RHP vs. Luis Castillo, RHP

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Chatwood’s first two 2020 starts: 0.71 ERA, 0.789 WHIP, four walks and 19 strikeouts in 12⅔ innings.
Chatwood’s last two 2020 starts: 24.55 ERA, 5.182 WHIP, five walks and six strikeouts in 3⅔ innings.

It’s like there’s a good Chatwood and an evil Chatwood. Let’s hope we get good Chatwood today. He hasn’t faced the Reds this year, but last year he had a 1.29 ERA and 10 strikeouts in seven innings against them.

Luis Castillo has made six starts this year with mixed results. Only one of those starts was against a team that currently has a winning record (Indians).

Last year he posted a 3.24 ERA and 1.080 WHIP in four starts vs. the Cubs, with 30 strikeouts in 25 innings. This won’t be an easy one by any means.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here is a list of providers currently carrying Marquee.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com 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 2020 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used in previous years. 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, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week/Date) game threads.” It will contain every thread related to that particular game, including the First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads, as well as the recap when it’s published. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post.

You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads in the box marked “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

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.