Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds preview, Saturday 6/1, 6:15 CT

Rain is in the forecast today, so here’s the Chicago-area radar to keep handy.

Saturday notes...

• GOOD RIDDANCE TO MAY, PART 1: The Cubs have not won consecutive games since May 4-5, when they were 21-14. While going 7-16 since then, they have had two losing streaks of two games, one of five and have a current streak of three. They lost once, then won again, four times. Half of their 16 losses have been by one or two runs — six by one and two by two. They have lost by three runs three times, by four twice, by six once and by seven twice. All the losses have been by a total of 47 runs, just under three per game. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• GOOD RIDDANCE TO MAY, PART 2: The Cubs were 10-18 in May. Among NL teams, only the Reds (9-18) and Mets (9-19) were worse.
• HAPP-ENSTANCE: Ian Happ, last 10 games since May 21: .294/.342/.765 (10-for-34) with four doubles, four home runs, 10 RBI and seven runs scored.
• TAUCH-ING BASEBALL: Mike Tauchman has seen 4.44 pitches per plate appearance, which leads all NL hitters and is third in MLB.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Reds lineup:

Justin Steele, LHP vs. Hunter Greene, RHP

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

MLB Photos-USA TODAY NETWORK

Finally, in his most recent start, Monday in Milwaukee, Justin Steele looked like his 2023 self — seven shutout innings, three hits, one walk, eight strikeouts. The Cubs have lost all six games Steele has started this year, though that’s largely due to bad bullpen work. Last year the Cubs were 19-11 in Steele’s 30 starts.

Some of his bad starts last year were against the Reds, unfortunately: 7.45 ERA in two starts covering 9⅔ innings. Hopefully, this year will be different.

After a couple of mediocre seasons, Hunter Greene is finally showing the form that made him the second overall pick in the 2017 draft. His K rate is down a bit from last year, but as you can see in the chart below, he still throws hard (averaging almost 98 on his four-seamer).

Current Cubs are batting a small-sample-size .258 (11-for-43) against him, but three of those hits are home runs (Cody Bellinger, Ian Happ, Nico Hoerner).

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is Fox-TV (regional — coverage map). Fox announcers: Adam Amin and Adam Wainwright.

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page 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 2024 Game Thread procedure will be like last year’s, 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.