CHICAGO NINE TO KNOW
1 In his career, Carlos Marmol has blown saves in eight games in which the Cubs have ended up winning. Against the Reds, he earned his third vulture victory (blown save/winning pitcher). 2 In his first 70 at-bats, Adam Dunn was 1-for-40 with two strikes on him. 3The Cubs have the worst walk rate in the NL, drawing a walk in only 6.0 percent of all plate appearances entering Friday. The White Sox’ walk rate is 5.8 percent, worst in the majors.
4 Righty Addison Reed is an equal-opportunity nasty pitcher. He has held batters overall to a .133 average, with righties and lefties both hitting .133. 5 Only 50 of Dylan Axelrod’s 92 first pitches have been for strikes (54.3 percent). Compare that to Jeff Samardzija’s 62.2 percent (84 of 135) and Jake Peavy’s 69.6 percent (71 of 102). 6 The Sox’ record for fewest walks by batters in a full season is 393 in 154 games in 1930 and 397 in 162 games in 1968. The Cubs’ record for the fewest walks in a full season is 392 in 154 games in 1933 and 395 in 162 games in 2006. 7 Of the first 82 runs the Cubs allowed this season, 14 were unearned, tied with the Astros for the most in the majors. 8 In the first five innings of the Cubs’ and Sox’ first 20 games, each team totaled 86 hits. Only the Twins and Royals (84) and the Rays (82) had fewer. 9 Cubs starting pitchers have held opposing cleanup batters to a .120 batting average, lowest in the majors.