One blowout win, and one 1-0 nail-biter, and here the Cubs are on the verge of a sweep in Pittsburgh. Each type of win has its merits, but I would be fine with tonight’s being more like the former.
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Here’s the Cubs lineup:
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Willson Contreras, C
- Javy Baez, 2B
- Jon Lester, P
- Jon Jay, CF
The Cubs will face Tyler Glasnow again in this one, and, although he netted seven strikeouts last time out, he also gave up six runs (four earned) to the Cubs. Kris Bryant took him deep in the first inning, for what that’s worth.
The group of position players this time around is the same as that time, with the lone switch being Ben Zobrist out, Jon Jay in.
Javy Baez slides into second base, as he has for each of Jon Lester’s starts.
Jon Jay starts in center field, just his sixth start in the Cubs’ first 21 games. It’s been interesting to see that it hasn’t so much been Albert Almora squeezing Jay out of starts, since they were expected to share time (Almora has started eight games), but instead it’s effectively been Baez. When he starts at second, Zobrist most frequently slides out to right, with Jason Heyward moving over to center.
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Good on Jay for staying sharp with the limited opportunities, though. He’s currently hitting .345/.424/.414. Although I guess that .500 BABIP won’t last forever …
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ closer to game time (6:05 CT).