Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds preview, Tuesday 9/6, 6:40 CT

Today's roster moves: Here and here.

Tuesday notes...

• ATTENDANCE WATCH: The Cubs have sold 2,163,550 tickets for 66 dates. With 15 games remaining, they must average 22,430 per game to reach 2.5 million. It’s gonna be close.
• PLAYING THEM EVEN: The Cubs are 21-21 since the All-Star break, with 24 of those 42 games against playoff contending teams. In those 24 games the Cubs are 10-14, so they are 11-7 in games against non-contenders since the ASB. Only six of the remaining 28 games are against contending teams (three vs. the Mets in New York, three vs. the Phillies at Wrigley Field).
• HIT THAT FIRST PITCH!: The Cubs are batting .369 (185-for-502) when putting the first pitch of an at-bat in play, the top mark in the majors. The Rockies are second with a .363 BA when putting the first pitch of an at-bat in play.
• NOW KEEP THOSE LEADS!: The Cubs have scored first in 78 of their 134 games this year, but have gone just 40-38 in those contests. The 78 games scoring first are third-most in the majors behind the Mets (81) and Astros (81) and the 38 defeats in those games are most in the majors (the Reds are second with 28 losses in games when scoring first).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Reds lineup:

Also of interest for tonight and this series (time listed is ET):

Wade Miley, LHP vs. Justin Dunn, RHP

As you can see by the graphic below, Wade Miley doesn’t throw really hard anymore. He makes up for that by having a wide pitch selection and throwing really good breaking balls. He also works quickly, which helps keep hitters off balance. I wish more pitchers would do that — they’ll have to next year with the pitch clock.

Miley has not faced his former team, the Reds, this year. In fact, he hasn’t faced them since 2019, so most of the current Reds have not faced him. Albert Almora Jr. has a home run against Miley.

Justin Dunn started against the Cubs August 14 in Cincinnati, and they hit him pretty hard (five runs in 3⅔ innings, including home runs by Patrick Wisdom, Yan Gomes and Christopher Morel).

Since then Dunn’s pitched better — three starts, 2.40 ERA (but a 5.38 FIP!) but a lot of walks (six in 15 innings) and home runs (three in 15 innings).

I think the Cubs will hit him hard again.

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.