Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds preview, Monday 10/3, 5:40 CT

Oct 3, 2022 - 8:30 PM

Monday notes...

• ATTENDANCE WATCH: The Cubs finished the home season with 2,616,780 tickets sold, an average of 32,306 per date. The average currently ranks ninth and the total seventh, though the total ranking could drop as some teams close to the Cubs in that list (Red Sox, Astros, Mets) still have home games remaining. The total is the lowest for the Cubs in a full-capacity season (2020 and 2021 excluded) since 1997. I’ll have more on Cubs attendance and tickets when the season is over.
• OUTSTANDING PITCHING: The Cubs’ pitching staff has posted a 1.68 ERA (20 earned runs in 107 innings) over their last 12 games, the lowest ERA in the majors during that. Also, over the six games of the just-completed homestand, the Cubs allowed two or fewer runs in each game, the longest such stretch for the team since another six-game streak from June 30-July 5, 2015.
• TRIPLING IT UP: Nelson Velázquez tripled for the second consecutive game Sunday. He’s the first Cub to do that since Kyle Schwarber did it September 1-2, 2018.
• SEIYA!: Seiya Suzuki is on an eight-game hitting streak during which he is batting .379/.471/.655 (11-for-29) with a triple, two home runs, four walks and eight runs scored.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Reds lineup:

Hayden Wesneski, RHP vs. Hunter Greene, RHP

Hayden Wesneski has been really good in four of his five outings since being promoted to the major leagues.

Tonight’s game is a good test: It’s the first time he’ll have faced a team twice. The first time was five shutout innings in his MLB debut September 6 at Wrigley Field. He allowed two hits and a walk that night and struck out eight.

Another one just like that would put a nice little finishing touch on Wesneski’s MLB debut season.

Have a look at the pitch chart for Hunter Greene below. He’s basically a two-pitch pitcher (plus a handful of changeups).

That screams out “closer” to me, given that Greene routinely hits 100 miles per hour. He’s not likely going to make it as a starter, although his three September starts (after returning from a shoulder strain) have been pretty good — 1.06 ERA, 29 strikeouts and only six walks in 17 innings.

Cubs batters have done a pretty good number on Greene this year: eight runs in nine innings, including home runs by Nico Hoerner, Willson Contreras and Ian Happ in this game in May.

More like that, please.

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.