Last night, it was Thor. Tonight, the Cubs have a chance to take down the Dark Knight.
Matt Harvey takes the ball for the Mets, now recovered from Tommy John surgery and back to his dominating ways (though – knock on wood – he hasn’t been accumulating a ton of strikeouts lately). I remember watching his start at Wrigley Field in 2013, awed by how ridiculously good his stuff looked. As with Noah Syndergaard last night, the Cubs will look bad at times tonight. Harvey is just that good. But if they can make him work a bit, spit on the nasty slider out of the zone, then maybe they can get him out and/or put up some runs.
It’s kind of exciting. And, if the Cubs manage to win, they’ll lock down a series win in this four-game set – something that seemed nearly impossible just two days ago.
If that’s to happen, the Cubs will need another good outing from Jason Hammel (possibly even a dominating one). The middle of the order has been shuffled around, with Starlin Castro back up in the cleanup spot.
Tonight’s game is on ESPN, by the way, so there will be plenty of eyeballs.
Game Info
New York Mets (20-13) at Chicago Cubs (17-15), 7:05 CT on WGN-9 (or your local affiliate), ESPN, and MLB.tv.
Game Thread and Series Preview
Your game thread is down there in the comments, so have fun.
The Series Preview lives here.
Starting Pitchers
Matt Harvey (2.72 ERA, 3.08 FIP, 3.21 xFIP; 7.60 K/BB)
versus
Jason Hammel (3.52 ERA, 3.50 FIP, 3.29 xFIP; 7.00 K/BB)
New York Mets Lineup
1. Curtis Granderson, RF
2. Daniel Murphy, 3B
3. Michael Cuddyer, LF
4. Lucas Duda, 1B
5. Wilmer Flores, SS
6. Kevin Plawecki, C
7. Kirk Nieuwenhuis, CF
8. Dilson Herrera, 2B
9. Matt Harvey, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Dexter Fowler, CF
2. Kris Bryant, 3B
3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
4.Starlin Castro, SS
5. Miguel Montero, C
6. Jorge Soler, RF
7. Chris Coghlan, LF
8. Jason Hammel, P
9. Addison Russell, 2B