Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds preview, Monday 5/23, 5:40 CT

Monday notes...

• BACK-TO-BACK JACKS: Friday, Saturday and Sunday are the first time in the Cubs’ long history that they have hit back-to-back home runs on three consecutive days. Patrick Wisdom and Frank Schwindel did it Saturday and Sunday, and Christopher Morel and Ildemaro Vargas on Friday. (H/T: BCB’s own JohnW53)
• MORE ON HOME RUNS: The Cubs have homered in eight of nine games since May 14, totaling 15 home runs, tied for the most in the NL and tied for the second-most in the majors during that stretch.
• WORDS OF WISDOM: Patrick Wisdom has hit home runs in three consecutive game. It’s the first time in his career he has done so and Wisdom is the first Cubs player with long balls in three straight games since Ian Happ did it September 6-8, 2021.
• ROAD WARRIORS: The Cubs tonight begin a four-game set in Cincinnati, looking to win their third straight road series following series wins in San Diego, May 9-11 and Arizona, May 13-15. The last time the Cubs won three straight series away from home was last year: May 14-16 at Detroit, May 21-23 at St. Louis and May 25-27 at Pittsburgh

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

The Reds lineup was not available at posting time. Please check the BCB Twitter feed for the Reds lineup.

Drew Smyly, LHP vs. Vladimir Gutierrez, RHP

USA TODAY NETWORK

USA TODAY NETWORK

Drew Smyly’s overall numbers are decent enough, but in three starts in May he has a 5.52 ERA and 1.773 WHIP, which... aren’t good.

He faced the Reds once last year, August 10 in Atlanta, and the results weren’t great. Current Reds are hitting .217 (10-for-46) against him with four home runs (two by Aristides Aquino) and 12 strikeouts.

Speaking of “not good,” Vladimir Gutierrez’ 2022 season qualifies for those words. He’s made six starts and not one of them can be considered “decent.” He hasn’t completed the fifth inning in any of his six starts, and over the last three — yikes — 11.77 ERA, 2.231 WHIP, five home runs in 13 innings.

So that probably means he’ll blank the Cubs for five innings.

Seriously, though, this is a guy these Cubs should hit hard. Ian Happ, who loves to hit in GABP anyway (lifetime .342/.447/.784 with 13 HR in 111 AB), is 4-for-8 with two homers off Gutierrez.

Statcast

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

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 2022 Game Thread procedure will be like last years, 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.