Sometimes, I think I’m only in this to amuse myself.
The Chicago #Cubs current five-game wining streak is the longest active streak in MLB.
If they win tonight against the #Rockies, that'll be six in a row, which would also be the longest active streak in baseball. #IDidTheMath
— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) May 1, 2018
But, hey, it is true. With a win tonight, the Cubs can take their winning streak to six games, guaranteeing their second consecutive series win in the process. Given the impending series in St. Louis, that would be a comforting base.
Fortunately, the Cubs have Kyle Hendricks on the mound tonight. And his last outing was particularly swell (7.0 IP, 4H, 0ER, 0BB, 5K). On top of the obvious excellence we uncovered when we went over that start, we discovered that Hendricks had recorded a 68.4% ground ball rate, with a teeny-tiny 5.3% line drive rate and 26.3% fly ball rate. On top of that, he managed to generate soft contact 26.3% of the time with a hard-hit rate to match it – both are much better than average. If he comes anywhere close to that tonight, he’s going to be just fine.
In his last start against the Rockies (4/20), Hendricks allowed 3 earned runs on 5 hits, no walks and 6 strikeouts over 5.0 innings.
Kyle Hendricks has not given up a walk in either of his last two starts, including his last one against the Rockies.
— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) May 1, 2018
Jon Gray is starting for the Rockies tonight, and his last start was pretty fantastic (6.0 IP, 3H, 0ER, 1BB, 11Ks), but it came just one game after getting crushed by the Cubs (5.0 IP, 8H, 6ER, 3BB, 1K). That game was in Coors, but the weather is warm at Wrigley Field tonight, so maybe the Cubs can get to him again.
Game Info
Colorado Rockies (15-15) at Chicago Cubs (16-10) – 7:05 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: Kyle Hendricks (R): 3.10 ERA, 4.70 FIP; 3.43 K/BB
versus
Rockies: Jon Gray (R): 5.79 ERA, 3.55 FIP; 3.89 K/BB
Colorado Rockies Lineup:
- Charlie Blackmon, CF
- David Dahl, LF
- Nolan Arenado, 3B
- Carlos Gonzalez, RF
- Trevor Story, SS
- Ian Desmond, 1B
- Daniel Castro, 2B
- Tony Wolters, C
- Jon Gray, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Addison Russell, SS
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Victor Caratini, C
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Ian Happ, CF
- Kyle Hendricks, P