Pre-Gamin’: Mariners at Cubs (1:20 CT) – Lineup, Broadcast Info, Game Thread

The Chicago Cubs continue their interleague play today, with a three-game, weekend series against the Seattle Mariners.

And, if you don’t count the Crosstown Cup as two individual series, the Cubs haven’t lost a series since before the All-Star break. Not bad.

Looking to preserve that streak, is Cubs lefty Jon Lester. Lester takes the mound after an abbreviated start in Milwaukee, where he lasted just 4.0 innings, while giving up 4 earned runs. He did strike out seven in that start, but walked five, as well. Still, he’s been solid this season, save for a rough patch at the beginning of July, and he’ll throw to David Ross behind the plate, as usual.

Opposing Lester for the Mariners is righty Hisashi Iwakuma. Iwakuma has never really lived up to his excellent 2013 season with the Mariners and hasn’t even finished a complete, healthy season since. That said, he does look well on his way to making 32 starts here in 2016, but I wouldn’t exactly call his 127.1 innings productive: 3.96 ERA/4.40 FIP/4.49 xFIP.

For his career, lefties and righties have hit about the same against Iwakuma, but that hasn’t held up in 2016. This season, lefties have a .337 wOBA against Iwakuma, while righties are at just .315. In part due to those splits, Chris Coghlan is leading off for the Chicago Cubs today. In case you missed it, he was just taken off of the disabled list, in favor of Tommy La Stella – who was optioned back to Triple-A. I’m guessing this isn’t the last well see of La Stella, though, even before September.

First pitch is at 1:20.

Game Info

Chicago Cubs (61-40) at Seattle Mariners (51-49), 1:20 CT on CSN-C, 670 The Score.

Game Thread and Series Preview

Your game thread is down there in the comments, so let’s have some nice, clean, safe-for-work fun, eh?

The Series Preview lives here. The Lineup Discussion lives here.

Starting Pitchers

Cubs: Jon Lester (L): 3.09 ERA, 4.00 FIP, 3.67 xFIP; 3.28 K/BB

versus

Mariners: Hisashi Iwakuma (R): 3.96 ERA, 4.40 FIP, 4.49 xFIP; 3.03 K/BB

Seattle Mariners  Lineup:

1. Shawn O’Malley, SS
2. Franklin Gutierrez, LF
3. Robinson Cano, 2B
4. Nelson Cruz, RF
5. Kyle Seager, 3B
6. Dae-Ho Lee, 1B
7. Leonys Martin, CF
8. Chris Iannetta, C
9. Hisashi Iwakuma, P

Chicago Cubs Lineup:

1. Chris Coghlan, RF
2. Kris Bryant, 3B
3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
4. Ben Zobrist, RF
5. Addison Russell, SS
6. Jason Heyward, CF
7. Javy Baez, 2B
8. David Ross, C
9. Jon Lester, P