![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ryan-dempster-cubs-996-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>Cincinnati won its ninth consecutive extra-innings road game with a 3-2 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.\u00a0 The Reds continue to show why their the best team in baseball in tight games with 15 final-at-bat wins.\u00a0 Thursday\u2019s game marked the beginning of the team\u2019s longest road trip of the season, which will last until the All-Star break.\u00a0 The lineup tallied 16 hits in the game, but still stranded 13 runners on base while going 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.\u00a0 Cincinnati moved its road record to 18-16 on the season (+320) and continues to be rock solid 23-14 against divisional foes (+890).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nReds starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo is 7-4 with a 4.49 ERA in 16 starts this season (+300).\u00a0 The right-hander is 4-2 with a 4.78 ERA in eight road outings (+460), with the team posting victories in his last two appearances away from Great American Ball Park.\u00a0 He will be making his 20th<\/sup> career appearance (18th<\/sup> start) against the Cubs, going 7-6 with a 3.06 ERA, including a 4-3 mark and 3.88 ERA in nine outings at Wrigley Field.\u00a0 After posting a dismal 1-2 mark and 6.37 ERA in five April starts, he has bounced back with a 6-2 record over the last two months.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nChicago is falling like a rock in the NL Central after dropping its 11th straight series opener, sitting 10.5 games back of Cincinnati.\u00a0 \u201cWe just don\u2019t seem to come up with the big hit when we need it,\u201d Cubs manager Lou PIniella said.\u00a0 The Cubs batted .249 in June and scored just 92 runs.\u00a0 Only the Nationals (91) and Pirates (82) scored fewer runs in the National League.\u00a0 Chicago still has a chance of producing some kind of momentum heading into the All-Star break, with 15 of their next 24 games set to be played at Wrigley Field.\u00a0 Over the last four Julys, the Cubs have tallied a winning record during the month.\u00a0 Last year, Chicago was 18-9 in July and the club owns a 50-29 record in the month under Lou Piniella.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nCubs starting pitcher Ryan Dempster is an even 6-6 with a 3.58 ERA in 16 starts (-790), with the club alternating wins and losses over his last seven outings.\u00a0 The right-hander captured an 8-6 road victory over the Chicago White Sox last time out, allowing three earned runs and nine hits over seven innings.\u00a0 He carries a 5-5 record and 4.29 ERA in 36 career appearances (12 starts) against the Reds, which includes picking up a loss at the Great American Ball Park on May 9.\u00a0 In that start, he surrendered five earned runs and six hits in seven frames.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nBettors will find no advantage in playing either team based on daytime numbers, with the Reds standing at an even 13-13 (-180) and the Cubs currently 18-22 (-1,070).\u00a0 Playing the road underdog offers value in Friday\u2019s contest based on the home team being 20-31 against right-handed starters (-1,660).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Both teams get set for the second game of a holiday weekend series at the Friendly Confines. Cincinnati Reds at Chicago Cubs Cincinnati won its ninth consecutive extra-innings road game with a 3-2 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.\u00a0 The Reds continue to show why their the best team in baseball in tight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444],"tags":[236,180,78,1781,982,1637],"class_list":["post-5158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-bronson-arroyo","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-nl-central","tag-ryan-dempster","tag-wrigley-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5158"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5197,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5158\/revisions\/5197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/ryan-dempster-cubs-996.jpg\")
<\/a>Cincinnati won its ninth consecutive extra-innings road game with a 3-2 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.\u00a0 The Reds continue to show why their the best team in baseball in tight games with 15 final-at-bat wins.\u00a0 Thursday\u2019s game marked the beginning of the team\u2019s longest road trip of the season, which will last until the All-Star break.\u00a0 The lineup tallied 16 hits in the game, but still stranded 13 runners on base while going 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.\u00a0 Cincinnati moved its road record to 18-16 on the season (+320) and continues to be rock solid 23-14 against divisional foes (+890).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n