NEWSLETTER
Well, it was raining earlier, but the forecast looks fine for the rest of the night tonight. Game 2 between the Cubs and the Padres should go off without a hitch.
And starting that game for the Cubs is fill-in starter (#2) Mike Montgomery. Tonight marks Montgomery’s third start for the Cubs this season. And so far, his first two weren’t half-bad:
Rockies: 4.0 IP, 3H, 2ER, 3BB, 5Ks
Mets: 5.0 IP, 6H, 2ER, 1BB, 4Ks
In his second start, Montgomery went a bit deeper into the game and allowed fewer free passes (something he’s dealt with out of the pen this year). Altogether, he’s given the Cubs some solid innings, as he continues to stretch himself out into a full-time starter. If he can go six more tonight and keep the Cubs close enough, he’ll have done his job and then some.
Opposing Montgomery and the Cubs is Padres’ righty Jhoulys Chacin. Chacin doesn’t walk too many batters, but he doesn’t strike many guys out either. Despite a pretty normal BABIP, batters have hit .257 off him this year with a ton of hard contact. Lefties are absolutely DESTROYING Chacin this season (.393 wOBA), but he’s held righties almost completely in check (.258). His best quality has been his ability to generate a ton of ground balls (51.7% – 6th best in the NL). Overall, though, his 5.10 ERA shouldn’t inspire much fear.
The Cubs have a pretty unusual lineup tonight, with Willson Contreras starting in left field, but we discussed all of that earlier in the Lineup post, so be sure to check i tout. If the Cubs can win tonight, they’ll have locked in their second consecutive series win. That would be really great, so please do that, Cubs. Please. Like, please.
No really. Please.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (35-34) at San Diego Padres (28-43) – 7:05 CT on CSN-C, 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: Mike Montgomery (R): 2.56 ERA, 3.87 FIP, 4.44 xFIP; 1.46 K/BB
versus
Padres: Jhoulys Chacin (R): 5.10 ERA, 4.52 FIP, 4.19 xFIP; 2.54 K/BB
San Diego Padres:
- Jose Pirela, LF
- Franchy Cordero, CF
- Wil Myers, 1B
- Yangervis Solarte, 2B
- Hunter Renfroe, RF
- Cory Spangenberg, 3B
- Allen Cordoba, SS
- Luis Torrens, C
- Jhoulys Chacin, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Willson Contreras, LF
- Ian Happ, CF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Miguel Montero, C
- Javier Baez, 2B
- Mike Montgomery, P
- Jon Jay, RF
