Reds vs. Cubs, Game 3 - Moustakas, Senzel, Barnhart return to lineup

Mike Moustakas socked a dinger, had four hits, and drove in four runs in his first pair of games with the Cincinnati Reds, only to wake up Sunday morning with a bad case of bubble gut. In these trying times - and fresh off the news that teammate Matt Davidson had tested positive for COVID-19 - he was immediately held out and placed on the indeterminate-length Injured List as a precaution, though he fortunately never tested positive for the virus, instead thinking he might just have had food poisoning.

Nick Senzel has a similar story, at least from Sunday until now. After jumping through all of MLB’s hoops and protocols, however, the two are back active and in the lineup tonight. Since Moose was actually on the IL, though, a roster move had to be made, and the Reds shipped promising rookie Tyler Stephenson back to the Prasco facility in Mason to make room.

The two will be joined in the lineup by Tucker Barnhart, too, who returns after a stint on the paternity list after he and his wife welcomed their second child. All told, it’s just about as close to an ‘everyday vs. RHP’ lineup that we’ve seen thus far, and likely the one David Bell has been dreaming about for months. Hopefully that will help the Reds tackle Chicago Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks, as the Reds are on a four-game skid while Hendricks is fresh off a start good enough to earn him last week’s NL Player of the Week Award.

Sonny Gray will be on the bump for Cincinnati, and considering his lone start was the Reds lone win, perhaps we can cross our fingers and hope for some causality behind that correlation.

First pitch is set for 6:40 PM ET, and you’ll find it on FS-Ohio and MLB.tv.

Reds Lineup

Baby Bears Lineup