The Cubs head home after a mostly successful West Coast swing to face the best team in baseball, the Pittsburgh Pirates. They’ll see a familiar face in Francisco Liriano, and the Pirates will see a familiar face in Jeff Samardzija.
The game is at 3:05pm and it’s a Friday, so this must be one of them new-fangled 3:05pm Friday starts. We’ll see if it’s awesome.
The Cubs’ lineup is all kinds of crazy today.
Game Info
Pittsburgh Pirates (52-32) at Chicago Cubs (36-47), 3:05 CT on CSN, MLBN.
Game Thread and Series Preview
The Game Thread lives here. You should participate in the madness. And, of course, for those who aren’t into message board-style game threads, please feel free to use the comments on this post for your in-game commentary/outbursts.
The Series Preview for this series lives here.
Starting Pitchers
Francisco Liriano (7-3, 2.23 ERA, 2.42 FIP)
versus
Jeff Samardzija (5-7, 3.34 ERA, 3.15 FIP)
Pittsburgh Pirates Lineup
1. Starling Marte, LF
2. Neil Walker, 2B
3. Andrew McCutchen, CF
4. Garrett Jones, 1B
5. Pedro Alvarez, 3B
6. Russell Martin, C
7. Jose Tabata, RF
8. Jordy Mercer, SS
9. Francisco Liriano, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Dave Sappelt, CF
2. Starlin Castro, SS
3. Dioner Navarro, C
4. Alfonso Soriano, LF
5. Cody Ransom, 3B
6. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
7. Scott Hairston, RF
8. Darwin Barney, 2B
9. Jeff Samardzija, P