Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds preview, Saturday 5/31, 1:20 CT

The Cubs look to even up their weekend series.

Saturday notes…

• ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Yesterday’s game was just the sixth this season in which the Cubs have neither hit a home run nor stolen a base. They have lost all six. The last of the previous five had been exactly a month earlier, on April 30, in a 4-3 loss at Pittsburgh. When the Cubs have hit at least one homer and stolen no bases they are 13-6. When they have hit no homers and stolen at least one base they are 7-6. When they have hit at least one homer and stolen at least one base, they are 15-4. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THE SIX SPOT: Cubs batting sixth have gone 255 plate appearances without hitting a home run, since the second of two by Nico Hoerner at Philadelphia on Sept. 25 of last year. Hoerner has had 163 of the PA; Pete Crow-Armstrong, 33; Dansby Swanson, 28; Michael Busch, 13; and six others between one and five. No. 6 hitters on other teams have hit 192 homers, an average of 6.6 per team. The Diamondbacks and Mariners have hit 12; the Dodgers and Nationals, 11. All other teams have had at least two homers from the sixth spot. The Cubs’ No. 6 is the only spot with no homers among all spots, 1-9, on all teams. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• STREAKING: Seiya Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 10 games with his single Friday. During the streak he’s batting .400/.478/.800 (16-for-40) with seven doubles, three home runs, six walks, 12 RBI and nine runs scored.
• STREAK ENDED: The Cubs dropped their first series opener at Wrigley Field since Sept. 16, 2024, spanning 12 series openers, the second-longest run in franchise history (16 series – May 1-Aug. 6, 1937).
• A FRANCHISE FIRST: Génesis Cabrera became the first Cub — player, coach or manager — to wear No. 92. All numbers from 0 to 99 have now been worn by at least one Cubs player, coach or manager. Cabrera was also the first MLB player to wear No. 92 when he wore it for the Cardinals in 2020.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Reds lineup:

Drew Pomeranz, LHP vs. Nick Lodolo, LHP

So the Cubs announced after Friday’s game that Drew Pomeranz would start Saturday.

Clearly, this is as an opener; Pomeranz hasn’t thrown more than 17 pitches in an outing this year, so he’s probably just going to throw one inning and then, most likely, Ben Brown will take over. Brown would have taken this turn in the rotation otherwise. Maybe things will go better for him with an opener. And since I already wrote up a bunch of stuff about Brown before this announcement, you get to read it!

Brown and Nick Lodolo faced each other last Sunday in Cincinnati.

Neither starter distinguished himself. Ben Brown gave up four runs in the first inning, then retired 10 straight Reds before getting lit up in the fifth. Nick Lodolo allowed the Cubs two runs in the first inning and one in the third before settling down.

Both teams obviously would like better outings from their starters today. In the Cubs’ case, Brown has really struggled lately and a good start would be helpful.

And the Cubs won that game last Sunday anyway by demolishing the Reds bullpen.

Baseball Savant

Baseball Savant

Baseball Savant

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. You can find out if Marquee is available via a provider in your area here. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Reds market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page 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 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.