The Cubs dropped game one to the Dodgers last night, but have a chance to split the first two tonight.
Here’s the lineup for Game Two:
- Jon Jay, LF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Javy Baez, 2B
- Jon Lester, P
If you thought yesterday’s lefty, Clayton Kershaw, had some serious reverse splits, you haven’t seen anything yet. Take a look at how well lefties have done against today’s southpaw, Rich Hill, this season:
Lefties: .253/.407/.439 (.374 wOBA)
Righties:Â .187/.252/.331 (.253 wOBA)
For reference, Anthony Rizzo put up a .380 wOBA this season (22nd highest in baseball) and Alcides Escobar put up a .269 wOBA this season (that’s the lowest mark among qualified hitters in all of MLB). Sure, Hill only had 26.0 innings against lefties and 109.2 innings against righties, but that’s probably not unrelated to the fact that he struggles so badly against them (i.e. he gets fewer chances).
In any case, the Cubs took this opportunity to get Jason Heyward back into the starting lineup, instead of going with Kyle Schwarber like yesterday. Albert Almora, who crushes lefties, sticks in center field and everyone else falls into their usual roles.
Let’s see if the Cubs can sneak their way back into this series, and, as usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ closer to game time (6:30 CT).