A year after no-hitter, Cubs' Arrieta faces Reds

CINCINNATI -- Chicago Cubs piutcher Jake Arrieta will face the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on Saturday, and it will occur one year and a day after he threw his second career no-hitter at the same venue.

Overall, the results have been positive for Arrieta in his first three starts this season. And, while he has seen the velocity drop, manager Joe Maddon doesn't appear to be concerned.

"If you look at the (radar) gun reading, it's down a click or two," Maddon said. "But the command is up. I like that the command is better even if it's at the expense of a couple miles per hour."

Arrieta (2-0) has a 2.89 ERA and 0.91 WHIP with six earned runs and three home runs allowed in 18 2/3 innings. He's walked only five and has struck out 21.

"I like the repetition of his delivery better," Maddon said. "I like the location of his fastball better. I like his curveball better for a strike. So, it might be minus maybe two miles an hour, but he's gained a lot with command and control. That's been the difference in him from last year."

Arrieta is 5-2 with a 3.47 ERA in seven career starts against Cincinnati. Besides the no-hitter last season, he threw a one-hit shutout in 2014 against the Reds.

Over his past 67 starts dating to the 2015 season, Arrieta is 42-14 with a 2.41 ERA.

Maddon said there's no physical issue to explain the reduction in velocity and he expects those numbers to improve as Arrieta's arm gets stretched out.

Cincinnati (9-8) will counter with 24-year-old left-hander Cody Reed, who will make his fifth appearance but first start of the season on Saturday.

He made two starts against the Cubs as a rookie last season, going 0-2 with a 12.38 ERA with 11 earned runs allowed over eight innings. After a rough major-league debut in 2016, Reed began this season in the bullpen where he has thrived, retiring all 18 batters faced in his past three games with seven strikeouts.

The Cubs (9-7) expect Ben Zobrist to be back in the lineup on Saturday after a couple days off with back tightness.

Chicago went 15-4 last season against the Reds, including an 8-2 mark at Great American Ball Park. Chicago has won 19 of the past 23 games versus Cincinnati and six of the past seven series.

Chicago hit 42 home runs against Reds pitching in 2016, the most ever in a single season against Cincinnati. They went deep three times in Friday night's series opener, including Anthony Rizzo's game-tying, three-run blast in the ninth.

The Cubs won the game 6-5 on Kris Bryant's sacrifice fly in the 11th.

Reds manager Bryan Price said this weekend's series against the defending World Series champions is a good measuring stick for his club.

"We're facing the champs," Price said. "It's been a big couple of (good) years for the Cubs. They've put together a really nice team. There are a lot of teams out there that are trying to get there, and we're trying to do the same thing. This is a good way of measuring ourselves."