The Chicago Cubs, fresh off their first series sweep of the season, are hosting the first place Milwaukee Brewers for three games at Wrigley Field this weekend. At just 2.0 games back, the Cubs are within striking distance of first, so let’s see if they can close (or overcome) that gap by Sunday.
Starting for the Cubs today is right-hander Eddie Butler. This is Butler’s second start for the Cubs and first at Wrigley Field. His first start went exceedingly well, and if he can keep it up, I suspect that the fifth spot in the rotation will be his for the summer.
In his first start (against the Cardinals) a week ago, Butler lasted 6.0 innings, allowed zero earned runs and just two hits, while striking out five. He did walk three batters (which may be a part of his game), but overall he looked really great. He’ll be pitching to Willson Contreras today.
Opposing Butler and the Cubs – and making his Major League debut in the process – is Brewers righty Paolo Espino. Espino, 30, began his professional career in the Indians organization back in 2007, and has played in the Minor League organizations of the Nats and Brewers ever since. After seven starts at Triple-A Iowa (2.54 ERA, 3.81 FIP) this season, the Brewers are finally giving him his shot.
At Triple-A, Espino rarely handed out free passes (3.3 BB%) and struck out his fair share of hitters (26.5 K%). With that said, he was a good amount older than the competition and has had much more experience. Hopefully, the Cubs don’t welcome him too kindly to the Major Leagues.
A win today would be four in a row for the Cubs – something they’ve done just once this season. It’s raining outside Wrigley right now, though, so we’ll see if we get going on time. The game is expected to be played, though.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (21-19) at Milwaukee Brewers (24-18) – 1:20 CT on CSN-C, 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 today.
Starting Pitchers
Cubs: Eddie Butler (R): 0.00 ERA, 2.87 FIP, 4.56 xFIP; 1.67 K/BB
versus
Brewers: Paolo Espino (R): (No Major League Stats)
Milwaukee Brewers Lineup:
- Eric Sogard, LF
- Eric Thames, 1B
- Jonathan Villar, 2B
- Travis Shaw, 3B
- Domingo Santana, RF
- Jett Bandy, C
- Keon Brozton, CF
- Orlando Arcia, SS
- Paolo Espino, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Ian Happ, CF
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Javy Baez, SS
- Eddie Butler, P
- Jon Jay, RF