The St. Louis Cardinals have won eight straight games, and now have one MORE win than the Chicago Cubs. They also have an additional loss, so the two teams are in a virtual tie atop the NL Central.
They’re playing the Braves at 1:15 (CT) today, and it’ll be Michael Wacha against R.A. Dickey.
The Cubs, in the meantime, play at 3:15 and are trying to do what they’ve now failed to do in three straight series: win the rubber match and take the series. Seriously, in all (now) four of their August series match-ups, the Cubs have had a chance to win the series on the final day, but have fallen short in every single one.
Given the changing tides lately, let’s hope they break that cycle.
The good news is that Jake Arrieta is on the mound for the Cubs today, and he’s not just been good lately, he made a fantastic 7.0 IP start against these very Diamondbacks back on August 2: 7.0 IP 3H, 1ER, 2BB, 8Ks. You don’t love that he had to play the same team in such shot notice, but that advantage plays both ways …
… Because Zack Godley is on the mound for the Diamondbacks and he too pitched on August 2nd, against Arrieta and the Cubs. And, unfortunately, his evening was quite strong, as well: 6.0 IP, 3H, 0ER, 2BB, 5Ks. So, shrug. Let’s just hope the Cubs bats’ have better memories, I guess.
Let’s go Cubs. Enough messing around.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (60-55) at Arizona Diamondbacks (65-51) – 3:10 CT on ABC-7, 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: Jake Arrieta (R): 3.83 ERA, 4.10 FIP, 4.04 xFIP; 3.07 K/BBB
versus
D-Backs: Zack Godley (R): 2.94 ERA, 3.17 FIP, 3.27 xFIP; 3.37 K/BB
Arizona Diamondbacks:
- David Peralta, LF
- A.J. Pollock, CF
- Jake Lamb, 3B
- Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
- J.D. Marintez, RF
- Daniel Descalso, 2B
- Chris Iannetta, C
- Ketel Marte, SS
- Zack Godley, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Jon Jay, CF
- Tommy La Stella, 2B
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Victor Caratini, C
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Javy Baez, SS
- Jake Arrieta, P