Reds at Cubs, Game Three Preview and Lineups

The Reds had their five-game win streak against the dirty, dirty Cubs snapped in crushing fashion yesterday, watching a 7-2 sixth inning lead crumble into a 8-7 loss at Wrigley. Matt Harvey did a swell job starting once again, but the bullpen gave an uncharacteristically bad performance behind him.

Man, it’s nice calling those uncharacteristic.

Cincinnati can still win the series in Chicago today though, and that would be no small thing in sustaining this hot stretch of baseball the Reds have played in which they’ve won 17 of their last 24 games.

Luis Castillo (5.53 ERA) gets the ball on the mound for the Reds today. He’s coming off his best start of the season — a 6.2-inning, one-run effort against the White Sox in which he struck out six and walked just one. Another start of that kind would help Cincinnati’s chances greatly. He has a 3.38 ERA in two starts against the Cubs this season.

He’ll be opposed by Jon Lester (2.25 ERA), who enters the game looking for his eighth straight win on the bump. He smoked the Reds in six one-run innings back on May 18, striking out eight batters.

First pitch is at 2:20 p.m. EST.

Reds lineup:

Cubs lineup: