Dan Haren to the rescue!
That’s about four jokes wrapped up in five words, of which the only serious part is: Dan Haren makes his Cubs debut tonight in Pittsburgh. The Cubs, on the whole, probably aren’t in need of rescuing, though they could use a steady, reliable arm in the fifth spot in the rotation going forward. Hopefully, that’s what Haren can be. The Cubs don’t need him to be a shut down superstar, but if he can consistently give them five or six innings, giving up no more than two or three runs, you’d be thrilled.
Haren gives up a lot of contact and a lot of fly balls. Be ready, outfielders.
The Cubs have a shot at a rain-shortened sweep tonight, which would be tremendous, all things considered. Their winning streak stands at six, by the way, and seven would be swell. They face Jeff Locke, whom they’ve faced several times already this year with decent results.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (58-47) at Pittsburgh Pirates (61-44), 6:05 CT on CSN 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
Dan Haren (3.42 ERA, 4.59 FIP, 4.58 xFIP; 3.52 K/BB)
versus
Jeff Locke (4.21 ERA, 3.75 FIP, 3.88 xFIP; 2.00 K/BB)
Pittsburgh Pirates Lineup
1. Gregory Polanco, RF
2. Starling Marte, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, CF
4. Aramis Ramirez, 3B
5. Jung-Ho Kang, SS
6. Neil Walker, 2B
7. Pedro Alvarez, 1B
8. Francisco Cervelli, C
9. Jeff Locke, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Dexter Fowler, CF
2. Kyle Schwarber, C
3. Kris Bryant, 3B
4. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
5. Jorge Soler, RF
6. Starlin Castro, SS
7. Chris Denorfia, LF
8. Dan Haren, P
9. Addison Russell, 2B