The Cubs are starting a long weekend series tonight, and they’ll be starting against the righty Seth Lugo in Game 1.
Lugo, as we discussed in the lineup post, hasn’t made any starts yet this season, but has been very, very good out of the bullpen (2.48 ERA, 3.24 FIP). But when he was primarily a starter last season (18 of his 19 appearances), he was a lot easier to handle (4.71 ERA). And, sure, his peripherals were a bit better than that (3.95 FIP), but he was still striking out batters at lower than a 20% rate while allowing plenty of hard contact (34.6%). He’s a good pitcher, but I’m doubtful he’ll pitch deep into this game (for one reason or another).
And at that point, hopefully, a Lugo-less Mets bullpen can allow some serious damage (they’re already among the bottom five bullpens in the league and they’ll be without one of their top arms).
Of course, the Cubs will still need Jose Quintana to be sharp, though he’s coming off a shortened 4.1 IP outing against the Giants (5H, 4ER, 2BB, 6Ks). It wasn’t his worst performance, but the Cubs are hoping for a repeat of his efforts against the Giants two starts ago, instead (7.0 IP, 1H, 4BB, 7Ks).
The Cubs have now won a couple series in a row, but it’s always tough to grab a four-gamer, especially on the road. Let’s see if they can give themselves a fighting chance with a win in the first game tonight.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (29-23) New York Mets (27-26) – 6:10 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): 4.78 ERA, 4.69 FIP, 1.89 K/BB
versus
Mets: Seth Lugo (R): 2.48 ERA, 3.24 FIP; 3.48 K/BB*
*No starts in 2018.
New York mets Lineup:
- Findin’ Nimmo, RF
- Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B
- Jose Bautista, LF
- Michael Conforto, CF
- Devin Mesoraco, C
- Jay Bruce, 1B
- Amed Rosario, SS
- Luis Guillorme, 3B
- Seth Lugo, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Javy Baez, SS
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Ian Happ, CF
- Jose Quintana, P