Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds play the fastest MLB game in 14 years

It didn’t take long for the Chicago Cubs to add another tally to their win column on Friday.

The Cubs hosted the Cincinnati Reds, their division rival, who were also mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Nevertheless, both teams gave their best and managed to open the series thanks to dominant pitches.

Jameson Taillon got the win for Chicago, allowing just four hits and two walks in 7.0 scoreless innings. His counterpart was Nick Martinez, who gave up five hits and one run over 8.0 innings.

The only run Chicago scored came on a sacrifice fly by catcher Miguel Amaya in the bottom of the fifth.

The Cubs had two relievers clean up after Taillon, with Tyson Miller and Porter Hodge combining to throw just 18 pitches in the eighth and ninth innings. Miller’s serve and Hodge’s save gave Chicago the 1-0 win and guaranteed the club would finish above .500 in 2024.

In total, the matinee showdown only lasted one hour and 48 minutes.

According to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, Friday’s matchup between the Cubs and Reds was the shortest nine-inning game in all of MLB since Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga had a perfect game on June 2, 2010 let. This competition lasted one hour and 44 minutes from start to finish.

The last time the Cubs played such a short full game was on May 24, 2001 against the Reds – also at Wrigley Field.

There has been a lot of talk about the impact of recent rule changes on the pace of play in the MLB. The league even shared a statistic Friday that showed how drastically the number of three-hour, 30-minute games dropped after the implementation of the pitch clock, universal hitter, pickoff limits and defensive shift restrictions.

But when it comes to finishing games as quickly as the Cubs and Reds did on Friday, it’s largely due to great pitching. Cincinnati didn’t have to bring in a single reliever, while both of Chicago’s pitching changes came between innings.

The Cubs and Reds meet again on Saturday at 2:20 p.m. and close out the regular season on Sunday with a game at 3:20 p.m.

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