NEWSLETTER
The Cubs closed their last home stand with a dud from starter Yu Darvish, a snoozer from the offense, and back-to-back losses at the hands of the Rockies. But now they’re heading to St. Louis for the weekend, and I’m sure that has their energy back up.
Plus, Jose Quintana is taking the bump later tonight, and he’s coming off an absolute gem against the Brewers at Wrigley Field: 7.0 IP, 2H, 1BB, 7Ks. By game score (81), that start was better than all but four last season, so it’s fair to say Quintana’s coming in hot. Hopefully, he can keep it up.
It’s worth pointing out that the Cardinals’ 91 wRC+ against southpaws this season ranks among the bottom ten in baseball.
Starting opposite Quintana for the Cardinals is newly-returned-to-the-States right-hander Miles Mikolas. As we explored in the Series Preview, Mikolas has walked just 2 batters (against 27 strikeouts) over five starts this season, and didn’t walk any in either of his last two games. He’s also earned a 50% ground ball rate and an above-average 20.6% soft-hit rate, so the Cubs definitely have their work cut out for them.
If there was any time to turn it on, tonight would be it. Let’s see it, Cubs. Wow us.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (16-12) at St. Louis Cardinals (17-12) – 7:15 CT on NBC Sports Chicago, 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: Jose Quintana (L): 5.74 ERA, 4.24 FIP; 1.92 K/BB
versus
Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (R): 3.27 ERA, 3.76 FIP; 3.18 K/BB
St. Louis Cardinals Lineup:
- Tommy Pham, CF
- Matt Carpenter, 2B
- Jose Martinez, 1B
- Marcell Ozuna, LF
- Yadier Molina, C
- Dexter Fowler, RF
- Jedd Gyorko, 3B
- Paul DeJong, SS
- Miles Mikolas, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Albert Almora, CF
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Javy Baez, SS
- Jose Quintana, P
