Cincinnati @ Chicago preview
Wrigley Field
Last Meeting ( Jul 3, 2010 ) Cincinnati 1, Chi. Cubs 3
It took 10 hits and nine walks for the Chicago Cubs to generate enough offense to finally beat the Cincinnati Reds.
They may need to make do with less on Sunday, facing a pitcher who held them at bay in his major league debut three months ago.
Reds rookie Mike Leake looks for just his second victory since May 15 in the finale of a four-game weekend set against the run-starved Cubs. Cincinnati won the opening two games of the series before struggling at the plate in Saturday's 3-1 loss at Wrigley Field.
Despite the loss, the Reds continue to be the surprise of the National League Central, holding a 1 1/2-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals. Few expected Cincinnati to lead the division this late in the season, after they went just 78-84 in 2009.
The Cubs did enough to topple the Reds on Saturday but stranded 17 runners in the process, one shy of the National League record. Geovany Soto's two-run double in the sixth inning made a winner out of Randy Wells, who carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning as the Cubs ended a three-game losing streak.
Chicago has been blanked in two of its last four games and could find itself struggling to put up runs against Leake (5-1). Having joined the Reds straight out of college, the 22-year-old limited the Cubs to a run on four hits in 6 2/3 in his first major-league start April 11. He left with a no-decision in the 3-1 Cincinnati win, but earned the victory in his next meeting with the Cubs on May 9.
Though he has struggled lately, allowing 12 runs over his previous 18 innings, the crafty right-hander is still one of the league's top first-year players. He carries a 3.30 ERA into today's outing, lasting at least six innings in all but one of his starts.
The Cubs counter with veteran left-hander Ted Lilly (3-6). Lilly has been much better than his won-lost record, with a tidy 3.12 ERA and a .219 opponent batting average. But he has been snakebitten by the Cubs' woeful lineup, to the point where he ranks last in the major leagues in run support among starters with at least 60 innings pitched.
Lilly was given just enough to work with in his last outing, limiting the Pittsburgh Pirates to a run on six hits over seven innings of a 3-1 Cubs victory. It was just the fifth time in 13 starts that Chicago scored more than two runs in a game started by Lilly.
The 34-year-old is just 2-6 all-time against the Reds, despite boasting a respectable 4.06 ERA in 11 starts. He last faced Cincinnati on Sept. 13 of last season, when he tossed six shutout innings to lead the Cubs to a 5-2 victory.