Jon Lester shuts down Reds offense, Cubs win 1-0

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

On a day when Chicago Cubs starter completely mowed through the Cincinnati Reds offense, it was at least encouraging to see that Cody Reed just continues to get a bit better and better by the outing.

On Saturday, Reed fired 5 innings of scoreless ball, allowing just a lone walk and a pair of hits in the process. His pitch count got elevated quickly - largely because he was busy striking out 10 Cubs in the process - but his 91 pitch outing was certainly the high point of his big league career to date.

Considering that we’ve just found out that both Lucas Sims and Tyler Mahle are likely out for the remainder of the season with shoulder issues, it’s encouraging to finally see this kind of largely dominant performance from one of their other young arms. Congrats, Cody, and here’s to making it the first of many more good ones to come.

Honorable Mentions are due to: Jose Peraza, who had another 2 hits and a stolen base; Joey Votto, who singled and walked; and Jared Hughes, who fired another scoreless inning with a pair of Ks.

Key Plays

• Willson Contreras singled into RF off Sal Romano in the Bottom of the 6th, and that scored Javier Baez. That’s it. That was the offense, and the Reds fell, 1-0.

Tony Graphanino

Other Notes

• Speaking of those shoulder issues for Sims and Mahle, Mark Sheldon has more on those over at Reds.com. Sims, it appears, had an issue flare up in his last outing and is now dealing with the same issue as one of Brandon Finnegan’s 2017 issues, which is no bueno. Mahle, fortunately, appears to just be dealing with ‘fatigue.’
• These two clubs will tussle on Sunday for the final time in 2018, and will do so with Jose Quintana and Luis Castillo starting, respectively. First pitch is set for 2:20 PM ET.
• Tunes.