Pre-Gamin’: Brewers at Cubs (3:05 CT) – Lineup, Broadcast Info, Game Thread

One way to follow up Friday’s celebratory festivities would be by having this particular lineup help lead Jake Arrieta to what would be his league-leading 18th win of the season.

Arrieta is 2-0 against the Brewers in 2016, but owns a 5.06 ERA and 1.59 WHIP in 10.2 innings. In fact, he has issued more walks (11) than strikeouts (9) against the Brewers this year. It will be interesting to see how he bounces back from his last start against the Astros where he picked up the win, but allowed three runs in 5.1 innings. Arrieta only has five quality starts in his 10 appearances since the All-Star break. Hopefully, he can start rounding into form ahead of the playoffs.

Opposing Arrieta is Zach Davies, whose 2.8 fWAR represents the best on the Brewers’ staff. However, he hasn’t been great against the Cubs this season with a 1-2 record,  5.29 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in 17 innings. Davies has been stellar of late, though, firing off four straight quality starts against the Rockies, Cubs and Cardinals (twice!). In those starts, Davies has posted a 2.39 ERA and limited batters to a .223 average in his last 26.1 innings of work.

Last time he pitched at Wrigley, the Cubs roughed him up to the tune of seven runs on 10 hits in four innings of work on August 18. Kris Bryant went 5-for-5 that day with two home runs. Coincidentally, Jake Arrieta picked up the win — despite allowing five runs in 5.2 innings.

First pitch is at 3:05. Let’s see if this Cubs lineup can replicate that kind of offensive output.

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Game Info

Chicago Cubs (94-53) at Milwaukee Brewers (66-82) – 3:05 CT on WGN, MLBN, 670 The Score

Game Thread and Series Preview

Your game thread is down in the comments, so let’s have some good, clean (safe-for-work) fun this afternoon and into the early evening.

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

Starting Pitchers

Cubs: Jake Arrieta (R): 2.91 ERA, 3.49 FIP, 3.69 xFIP; 2.48 K/BB

versus

Brewers: Zach Davies (R):  3.87 ERA, 3.83 FIP, 4.01 xFIP; 3.43 K/BB

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Milwaukee Brewers Lineup:

1. Jonathan Villar, 3B
2. Scooter Gennett, 2B
3. Ryan Braun, LF
4. Chris Carter, 1B
5. Hernan Perez, RF
6. Domingo Santana, CF
7. Orlando Arcia, SS
8. Martin Maldonado, C
9. Zach Davies, P

Chicago Cubs Lineup:

1. Tommy La Stella, 3B
2. Kris Bryant, 1B
3. Chris Coghlan, LF
4. Willson Contreras, C
5. Albert Almora Jr., CF
6. Javier Baez, SS
7. Matt Szczur, RF
8. Munenori Kawasaki, 2B
9. Jake Arrieta, P