Cincinnati Reds vs. Chicago Cubs MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 5/29/2021

The Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago Cubs meet in an NL Central division matchup in MLB action from Wrigley Field on Saturday.

The Cincinnati Reds will look to rebound after ending up on the wrong end of a 1-0 loss at the hands of the Cubs on Friday. Tucker Barnhart, Tyler Stephenson and Max Schrock each had a double while Nick Castellanos added a pair of base hits as well in the defeat. Jonathan India and Nick Castellanos each had a base hit as well to cap off the Reds’ offense as Cincinnati had seven hits as a team in the losing effort. Vladimir Gutierrez took the loss, falling to 0-1 after allowing the game’s lone run on two hits while striking out three over five innings of work. Luis Castillo will start here and is 1-7 with a 7.61 ERA and 45 strikeouts this season. In his career, Castillo is 4-4 with a 3.95 ERA and 65 strikeouts against the Cubs.

The Chicago Cubs will look to build on their win over the Reds from Friday’s matchup. David Bote’s 5^th inning homer was the lone RBI that would come across home plate in the game while Kris Bryant and Javier Baez each added a hit as well as the Cubbies had just three hits as a team in the winning effort, with the rest of the team batting 0 for 16 with 6 strikeouts. Adbert Alzolay got the win to improve to 3-4 on the year after tossing 5.2 innings of five-hit shutout baseball, walking three and striking out six in the win. Craig Kimbrel closed the 9^th for his 12^th save of the season. Zach Davies will start here and is 2-2 with a 4.96 ERA and 26 strikeouts this season. In his career, Davies is 3-4 with a 4.46 ERA and 54 strikeouts against the Reds.

Cincinnati is 5-11 in their last 16 games as a road underdog and 3-8 in their last 11 games overall while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 road games against a team with a winning record. Chicago is 9-2 in their last 11 home games and 77-34 in their last 111 home games against a team with a losing record while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 games against a right-handed starter. The under is 5-1 in the last 6 meetings between these two teams in Chicago.

I get that Castillo is a better pitcher than what we’ve seen up to this point in the season, but even with Davies having struggles against the Reds earlier this season, the Cubs are still likely to have more success off of Castillo than the Reds are off of Davies. Friday’s game was a lot closer than it should’ve been, but I look for the Cubs to get the job done once again on Saturday.