Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds preview, Sunday 5/30, 1:20 CT

Sunday notes, a look at May, which ends tomorrow...

• CUBS PITCHING THIS MONTH: Starters have a 3.26 ERA and 1.236 WHIP and have averaged 5.31 innings per start. Relievers have a 1.65 ERA and 1.036 WHIP and 120 strikeouts in 92⅔ innings.
• CUBS HITTING THIS MONTH: The Cubs are hitting .265./337/.421 in May with 30 home runs in 25 games. In April they struck out 260 times in 26 games (10 per game). That’s been reduced to 222 K’s so far in May, 8.88 per game.
• MAY IS GOOD, BATTERS: Joc Pederson is hitting .329/.375/.506 this month (26-for-79) with three triples, a double, three home runs and 10 runs. Javy Baez is hitting .284/.330/.489 in May (25-for-88) with three doubles, five home runs and 15 runs.
• MAY IS GOOD, PITCHERS: In six May starts, Zach Davies has a 1.72 ERA and 1.277 WHIP in 31⅓ innings. Kyle Hendricks has a 2.67 ERA and 1.188 WHIP in five starts covering 33⅔ innings.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Reds lineup:

Jake Arrieta, RHP vs. Tyler Mahle, RHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

Jake Arrieta had a great beginning to his 2021 season, then had a finger abrasion that put him on the injured list. That injury presumably affected his previous start against the Reds, April 30 in Cincinnati, where he allowed seven runs (including three home runs) in fewer than four innings.

So I’m going to discount that one and hope that Jake gets back to what he was doing earlier in April, and since he’s been back. In his eight starts other than that one, Jake has a 3.27 ERA and 1.152 WHIP, solid numbers.

The Cubs hit Tyler Mahle pretty hard May 2 in Cincinnati — nine hits and six runs in five innings, including three home runs (two by Kris Bryant, one by Anthony Rizzo).

Since that start Mahle has a 4.58 ERA and 1.424 WHIP in four starts. In one of those he didn’t get out of the third inning and allowed seven runs. On the other hand, he threw 5⅓ shutout innings against the Nationals last Tuesday. So, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. Pat Hughes will call play-by-play for today’s game on Marquee.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

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The 2021 Game Thread procedure will be a bit different than previous years. It will be similar to what we’ve used for Spring Training.

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 post related to that particular game, including the First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread, 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 the overflow thread 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 90 minutes after the scheduled game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.