The Chicago Cubs are playing a late one tonight, with the first pitch not scheduled until 9:05 CT.
I’m guessing your Enhanced Box Score will come sometime tomorrow.
Jon Lester takes the mound for Chicago, and if he can help deliver a win, it will be the Cubs fifth straight victory. We often joked about how the Cubs would turn things around if they just made it to the All-Star break, but I’ll be damned if that’s not exactly what has happened. Since then, they’ve gone 13-6, including wins in their past four straight. Maybe a little R&R is all they needed.
The big roster news tonight is the return of Jorge Soler (and attendant DFA of Joe Nathan). We’ll see how he looks in his return after two full months out of action.
Opposing Jon Lester and the Cubs tonight is youngster, Dillon Overton. Overton made his Major Leauge debut just four short starts ago, with the Oakland A’s. Since then, he’s lasted 18.1 innings, giving up 19 earned runs on 34(!) hits and 6 walks, to just 11 strikeouts. Although he has had some success in the minors, things have not looked good for him since making his debut. I’d share with you the lefty’s splits, but because of such a small sample (and, frankly, because of the ugliness of the production from both sides of the plate), I’ll just say that lefties and righties hit Overton equally well.
With the Cubs’ best three pitchers going in this series, they seem perfectly set to continue their winning ways. Of course, that likely means you can count on Overton having his first great start tonight, Sonny Gray returning to his 2015 ways tomorrow and Sean Manaea living up to his potential on Sunday.
First pitch: 9:05 p.m.
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Game Info
Chicago Cubs (66-41) at Oakland Athletics (48-60), 9:05 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): 2.95 ERA, 3.89 FIP, 3.65 xFIP; 3.29 K/BB
versus
Athletics: Dillon Overton (L): 9.33 ERA, 9.29 FIP, 6.72 xFIP; 1.83 K/BB
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Oakland Athletics Lineup:
- Marcus Semien, SS
- Jake Smolinski, CF
- Danny Valencia, 1B
- Khris Davis, LF
- Billy Butler, DH
- Ryon Healy, 3B
- Brett Eibner, RF
- Tyler Ladendorf, 2B
- Bruce Maxwell, C
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Dexter Fowler, CF
- Kris Bryant, LF
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jorge Soler, DH
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Javy Baez, 3B
- David Ross, C