The Cubs have just two sweeps to their name this season – a four-gamer against the Brewers at the end of April and a three-gamer against the Marlins in May – but have a chance to make it to three tonight.
And they have Kyle Hendricks on the mound, who could very well be their best starting pitcher this season. Indeed, his last start (against the Giants) was one of his best of the season. In that one, he lasted 7.0 full innings, allowing just one earned run on two hits and a two walks against seven strikeouts. His strikeout rate for the season is finally up over 20% and his walk rate is down to just 5.2%. He’s good and I’m glad he’s taking the hill tonight.
Joe Musgrove is starting against Hendricks tonight, in what’ll be just his second start of the season. The bad news is that he went seven scoreless innings against the Cardinals in his first start, with five hits, no walks, and seven strikeouts. Yikes. He’s also pretty split neutral, so there are no particularly compelling platoon advantages.
For his career, Musgrove has never been much of a strikeout artist, but he doesn’t walk many guys either. Like Hendricks, he’s gotten by on plenty of weak contact. So it’ll probably be another put the ball in play and see what happens kind of night.
Alright, the Cubs are going for the sweep! Let’s go!
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (29-22) Pittsburgh Pirates (28-26) – 6:05 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: Kyle Hendricks (R): 3.16 ERA, 4.27 FIP; 3.92 K/BB
versus
Pirates: Joe Musgrove (R): 0.00 ERA, 1.11 FIP; 7.00 K/BB*
*1 MLB start this season
Pittsburgh Pirates Lineup:
- Josh Harrison, 2B
- Austin Meadows, CF
- Francisco Cervelli, C
- Josh Bell, 1B
- Corey Dickerson, LF
- Colin Moran, 3B
- Gregory Polanco, RF
- Jordy Mercer, SS
- Joe Musgrove, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Javy Baez, 2B
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Tony Krueger, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Kyle Hendricks, P