Sunday notes…
REDS SCORING AGAINST THE CUBS… AND NOT: In four of the Cubs’ last five games against the Reds at Wrigley Field, they have allowed no runs through nine innings. In the fifth, on Friday, they gave up a homer to the game’s first batter. The Cubs blanked the Reds, 1-0 and 3-0, on Sept. 27-28 last year. The next day, in the final game of the season, the teams batted to a scoreless stalemate until the Reds tallied three runs in the 10th. On June 2 a year ago, in a series finale, the Reds scored four runs in the second inning and one in the third, then did not score in the last six innings. On Friday, the Reds scored two runs in three different innings. So, in their last 52 innings batting at Wrigley Field, the Reds have scored in only four, producing nine total runs. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
SEIYA LATER: Seiya Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 11 games with his double Saturday. During the streak he is batting .395/.480/.791 (17-for-43) with eight doubles, three home runs, 13 RBI, seven walks and nine runs scored.
TUCK AND RUN: Kyle Tucker stole his 16th base of the season without being caught. If he goes through the entire season without a CS, he will set a franchise record. That record is currently eight, set by Moises Alou in 2002. The MLB record is 30, set by Trea Turner in 2023.
ICYMI:
Cubs have outscored opponents 60-8 from 6th inning on over the last 15 games
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) May 31, 2025
Here are today’s particulars.
Cubs lineup:
Reds lineup:
Jameson Taillon, RHP vs. Nick Martinez, RHP
Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Hey, look! A pitching matchup in this series that isn’t a rematch from last weekend!
Jameson Taillon has been nails in his last two starts against the Marlins and Rockies, throwing 13⅓ innings and allowing just two runs, both on solo homers. The home run has been Jamo’s issue this year, as he leads MLB with 15 long balls allowed in 63 innings. That’s… not good.
Hopefully he can keep the ball in the yard this afternoon. It should be noted that Taillon has allowed five homers at Wrigley (in 30⅓ innings) compared to 10 on the road (in 32⅔ innings).
Nick Martinez parlayed a very good 2024 season into a two-year, $26 million deal last offseason, not bad for a guy who made only 16 starts (in 42 total appearances) last year, although they were mostly pretty good.
This year his 11 starts have also been mostly good, and he has thrown at least six innings in each of his last six starts, in which he has posted a 2.13 ERA and allowed only one home run in 38 innings.
His only start vs. the Cubs last year came on the second-to-last day of the season, Sept. 27, 2024 at Wrigley Field. He allowed one run in eight innings — a visiting pitcher complete game — but Taillon was better, throwing seven shutout innings and the Cubs won 1-0. We’d take that today.
Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. You can find out if Marquee is available via a provider in your area here.
Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
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The 2025 Game Thread procedure will be identical to last year’s.
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.