Johnny Cueto Will Out Pitch Barry Zito

The Reds start an eleven day, ten game homestand starting with the San Francisco Giants on Monday which starts the first game of four between the ball clubs. The Reds ended last night on high note winning the series against the Washington Nationals after their 19th come from behind victory and 11th in their final at bats. The Cincinnati Reds (33-24) and the St. Louis Cardinals (33-24) are tied for the Central Division lead. The Reds have regrouped after a small rut the past week as they Reds finished their road trip going 3-3 and now return home where they are 19-11 on the season.

Johnny Cueto takes the mound for Cincinnati Monday night after having had his ups and downs this season. He got rocked in his last outing giving up 8 runs in 5 innings against St. Louis where he got lazy on the mound and went with the motions of the game. When he gets hit, he tends to try and speed up the game and it throws everything off balance but tonight will be a different story and he will be back in his May form. Dusty Baker and Bryan Price talked with him at the end of April about slowing down the game and relaxing and the results were great with him going 4-0 in 5 starts with a 1.59 ERa. I can only assume Baker and Price have already had a word with Cueto, so a little kick in the butt should do the trick.

The Reds have hit lefties fairly well on the season. Johnny Gomes is the biggest threat hitting .346 (18/52) with 3 home runs and driving in 14 runs. Orlando Cabrera, Brandon Phillips, and Drew Stubbs have been good against lefties as well. Cabrera is hitting .386 (22/57) with an OBP of .453 and since he is now the everyday lead off hitter, he should get on base a few times against Zito. Phillips is hitting .305 (18/59) while scoring 10 runs and driving in 5 runs and is 4 for 10 against Zito in his career. Stubbs had struggled in April and picked it up in May but he stayed consistent against lefties though and overall is hitting .279(17/61) while scoring 11 runs and driving in 8 runs. As far as home runs are concerned, 4 of 6 have come against lefties. A fun fact about Johnny Cueto, is he is 3 for 4 against lefties and my prediction is he gets a base hit tonight against Zito.

Jay Bruce has struggled at the plate and is hitting .234 with 19 strike outs in 64 at bats; in the past 7 days, Bruce is hitting .217 (5/23) with one run batted in. Tonight would be a good night for Bruce to sit and to give Heisey a start even though ironically Heisey has struggled against lefties going 1/16 (.063), but he has been used inconsistently. His last at bat was a pinch hit against Houston on May 29th and his last start was against Pittsburgh on May 25th. My bold prediction is Heisey contributes offensively today with Gomes leading the way. You never know with Dusty though.

Predictions: Reds win 5-3. Cueto goes 6+ innings allowing 2 runs. Gomes drives in 3 runs. Heisey has 2 hits. Johnny Cueto gets a base hit off Zito.

Johnny Cueto (5-1 4.09) vs. Barry Zito (6-2 2.78)

Take Cincinnati Reds ML (-128).





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