Preview for the April
23rd Game
Chicago Cubs (5-13)
at Cincinnati Reds (12-8)
The Chicago Cubs will be trying to avoid a five game losing
streak and losing their series against the Cincinnati Reds in tonight’s game.
The game will start at 7:10pm eastern time and will be played at the Great American
Ballpark. The Cubs will look to get revenge for their extra innings loss to the
Reds in yesterday’s game. Carlos Villanueva will be the probable pitcher for
the Cubbies and is coming off his first win of the season. Villanueva has a quality
start in each of his first 3 starts this year with a record of 1-0 and an era
of 1.29. Carlos Villanueva is coming off a victory over the Texas Rangers when
he went 7 innings, allowed 2 earned runs on 4 hits and a walk. You could argue
that Villanueva has been one of the best pitchers in this early season because
he should be 3-0 in the season, but the bullpen has failed him and so have the
Cubs hitters. Carlos Villanueva is off to a strong start by relying on his
changeup, which is his best pitch and by mixing the velocity of pitches so
effectively.
The opposing probable pitcher will be the young, hard
throwing left-handed pitcher Tony Cingrani. Cingrani is coming off his first
start, in which he got a win by going 5 innings allowing one earned run on 5
hits, three walks and 5 strikeouts against the Miami Marlins. Cingrani is a
talented pitcher who relies just on his fastball that is in the mid-90s,
however he does have a slider and changeup but don’t expect him to pitch those
pitches as much as his fastball.
The Cubs hitters tend to struggle against left-handed pitchers,
which is why the Cubs are 0-6 when their opponent starts a LHP. However, I believe
the Cubs hitters can take advantage of the rookie Cingrani. I believe the Cubs
batters will fare well against him because he’s really just a fastball pitcher
and the Cubs best hitters tend to do well off fastball pitchers. I just think
the Cubbies need to be patient at the plate because Cingrani can be a tad wild
at times especially with his secondary pitches.
My prediction for the game is the Cubs win in order to make
up for their loss to the Reds last night with a score of 5 to 2. I believe
Villanueva will continue his strong season by having a strong outing against
the Reds and will be the player of the game. I predict that Villanueva will go
6.1 innings allowing just two earned runs and have 5 K’s in the game. I also
predict that Starlin Castro will continue his hitting streak by getting two
hits of the rookie Cingrani.
I will be posting the game analysis for April 22nd’s
game when I post the game analysis for today’s game because I didn't get a
chance to finish the analysis because I was finishing up a paper for a class of
mine.
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