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Cubs, Reds hope for some sunny skies for finale

Apr 30, 2014 - 3:08 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Wet weather couldn't slow down Cincinnati rookie Billy Hamilton and the speedy outfielder showed there is a little bit of power to his game as well.

Hamilton and the Reds will try to sweep a rain-shortened two-game series with the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night.

The 23-year-old Hamilton is hitting just .244 on the season, but is batting .340 over 13 games since April 15 and reached base four times in last night's 3-2 victory. Hamilton had a pair of infield singles, walked and hit his first career home run while also stealing his 10th base of the campaign.

Hamilton began the bottom of the first inning by drawing a walk, stealing second, moving to third on a wild pitch and then scoring on Brandon Phillips' sacrifice fly. His home run to start the bottom of the fifth tied the game at 2-2.

"Every day I come in here, I'm trying to do something good for the team, whether it's a sacrifice fly or a stolen base or scoring a big run," Hamilton said.

Chris Heisey drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth frame and Alfredo Simon won his fourth game of the season by allowing two runs over six innings in a game that had a delayed start due to rain and was also delayed twice after getting underway.

Monday's game was postponed due to rain as well.

While the Reds snapped a three-game slide, the Cubs lost for the fifth time in six games while their struggles in this series continued.

The Reds won two of three over the hosting Cubs from April 18-20 and have been victorious in 32 of the last 42 encounters dating back to late in the 2011 season.

Starlin Castro knocked in both runs for Chicago and Jeff Samardzija remained winless on the campaign after yielding three runs over 5 2/3 frames.

"We have to try to figure out how we can do anything that we possibly can to score more runs," said Cubs manager Rick Renteria, who was ejected in the sixth inning for arguing balls and strikes.

Right-hander Edwin Jackson will start for the Cubs, who will go into May still looking to win their first series of the season. They are 0-7 with one split in series this season.

Jackson earned his first win of the season on April 19, an 8-4 decision over the Reds as he allowed two runs over 5 2/3 innings. That moved him to 3-1 lifetime against Cincinnati with a 3.03 earned run average.

The 30-year-old then tossed a season-high seven frames on Thursday versus Arizona, but suffered a 5-2 loss and was charged with three runs over seven frames. Jackson fell to 1-2 on the year with a 5.02 ERA.

The Reds counter with lefty Tony Cingrani, who lost to Jackson and the Cubs on April 19. He allowed three runs over five innings, issuing four walks and allowing four hits while falling to 1-2 lifetime in this matchup with a 4.39 ERA.

Cingrani was able to even his record at 2-2 with a 2.86 ERA on the season with Thursday's 2-1 win over Pittsburgh. The 24-year-old yielded one run on a career-high six hits in six innings of work while fanning seven.