Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds preview, Tuesday 7/27, 7:05 CT

Today's roster moves: Here

Tuesday notes:

• BRYZZO: Sunday marked the seventh time Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo delivered back-to-back home runs, fourth-most for a duo in franchise history, surpassed only by Mark Grace and Sammy Sosa (nine times), Billy Williams and Ron Santo (eight) and Ernie Banks and Santo (eight).
• ONE-RUN AFFAIRS: Monday’s 6-5 win gave the Cubs a 15-18 record in one-run games thus far and the 33 one-run contests are tied for fourth-most in the majors with the Phillies. The Mets lead with 37 such games.
• THE KRAKEN: Opponents are hitting .106/.190/.146 (13-for-123) off Craig Kimbrel and he has struck out 64 of 137 batters faced this year (46.7 percent).
• THE FRIENDLY CONFINES: The Cubs are 31-18 at home. That is are tied with the Mets (31-16) and Giants (31-15) for the fourth-most wins at home in the NL, behind three NL West teams: the Dodgers (33-18), Padres (33-19) and Rockies (33-20).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Reds lineup:

Adbert Alzolay, RHP vs. Vladimir Gutierrez, RHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

Adbert Alzolay keeps having good, but not great outings, just enough to keep his season ERA in the 4.50 range. Which is okay, I guess, but I expect better from him.

Alzolay threw seven pretty good innings against the Reds in Cincinnati July 3, allowing three runs and striking out six. Usually that’s good enough to win, but... the offense was in a funk and the Cubs lost 3-2.

Overall vs. the Reds this year: 2.13 ERA, 1.105 WHIP, 12 strikeouts in 12⅔ innings.

Statcast

Vladimir Gutierrez made his MLB debut against the Cubs May 28 at Wrigley Field and allowed one run in 5x innings (the Cubs won 1-0).

Since then? Uh... not so good. In nine other MLB starts he has a 5.28 ERA and 1.520 WHIP and 10 home runs allowed in 49⅓ innings. That includes getting torched by the Mets for nine hits and six runs in four innings in his last start July 19.

Perhaps the Cubs have the advantage tonight.

Statcast

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