And here we are.
A struggling Cubs’ offense is taking on a talented young pitcher in the first-half finale at Wrigley Field. If the Cubs don’t come through, they’ll have ended the first half of their season TWO games below .500 and potentially 5.5 games out of first place.
And like I said, they’re facing a really talented young right-hander with a 2.73 ERA through his first 11 starts of this season. As expected, he’s been slightly worse against lefties (.311 wOBA) than righties (.303 wOBA) for his career, but obviously, that’s not a huge split and not a lot of damage allowed in any case either.
He hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 11.1 IP.
Fortunately, the Cubs are sending their best pitcher, Jon Lester, to the mound in opposition. Lester had a rough outing last time, but strung together four excellent starts in a row just before that: 26.0 IP, 2.42 ERA, 3.19 FIP. Hopefully, the Fourth-of-July dud against the Rays was just a blip in an otherwise strong stretch of pitching.
I think I can speak for everyone when I say, we really need this one. Go win it, Cubs. Please.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (43-44) at Pittsburgh Pirates (41-47) – 12:10 CT on WGN, 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: Jon Lester (L): 3.94 ERA, 3.66 FIP, 3.61 xFIP; 3.24 K/BB
versus
Pirates: Jameson Taillon (R): 2.73 ERA, 3.51 FIP, 3.72 xFIP; 2.68 K/BB [Looks like Taillon may be a late scratch for Chad Kuhl]
Pittsburgh Pirates:
- Josh Harrison, LF
- Francisco Cervelli, C
- Andrew McCutchen, CF
- David Freese, 3B
- Josh Bell, 1B
- Jose Osuna, RF
- Jordy Mercer, SS
- Max Moroff, 2B
Jameson Taillon, P Chad Kuhl
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Jon Jay, CF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Ian Happ, 2B
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Willson Contreras, C
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jon Lester, P