The Cincinnati Reds have been rolling on offense, winning five straight games thanks to production at the plate. However, that might be difficult to keep up as several injuries have taken their tolls on the biggest bats. The Reds will trust their depth as they put their best pitcher on the mound to keep the winning up against the Chicago Cubs.
The Reds offense has kept pace despite the loss of Joey Votto. He has been out since Saturday with an injured quad muscle. Cincinnati has still managed to bring in 23 runs while battling .323 as a club. However, now Billy Hamilton and Brandon Phillips look like they could be out as the team tries for a sixth straight win. Hamilton has been batting .373, but is expected to miss a few games after injuring his hamstring. Phillips is hitting .308 at home, but hurt his thumb sliding in for a catch.
Cincinnati is pushing for the National League Central lead and are 2 ½ games back at the moment. Homer Bailey will take the mound in order to keep the winning going. He has found his mid-season form putting up a 2.49 ERA in his last six starts. He has also won five straight games at home. He is even more impressive against the Cubs. The pitcher was 7-0 with a 3.08 ERA in 10 games before giving up four runs in five innings back in June.
The Cubs will start Kyle Hendricks against the Reds who is making his major league debut after both Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel were traded to the Oakland Athletics last weekend. In Triple-A Iowa, he put up a 3.59 ERA in over 102 innings of play. The Cubs will hope to provide him with some support which could be tough. Starlin Castro is in a 2-20 fun as the Cubs have totals just 12 runs during a six-game losing streak. They are sitting in last place at the moment with not much sign of life.
