The bad news is that the Cubs lost the opener against the Phillies, which means they’ll have to win two in a row to take the series.
The worse news is that the two toughest pitching matchups are left, with an extremely tough pitcher, Aaron Nola, on the mound tonight against Jose Quintana and the inconsistent Tyler Chatwood going for the Cubs tomorrow. It remains entirely possible, if not likely, the Cubs will win one of these two games by chance, but taking both will require some really great performances, starting with Quintana.
Fortunately, Quintana’s coming off one of his best starts of the year, a six-inning, three-hit, 2-walk shutout of the Mets in New York. If he can keep that improving velocity up where it has been lately, there’s no reason to believe he can’t deliver another quality start.
As for Nola, he has been truly tremendous this season, so much so that if the Cubs didn’t just face Jacob deGrom, I might consider him their toughest matchup of the year. That’s how good he’s been. He has given up slightly more damage to southpaws than righties, so hopefully Jason Heyward, hitting near the top once again, can keep up this little hot streak he’s been riding. Ditto Anthony Rizzo.
I don’t know why, but I can really use a win tonight. With the off day and quiet loss last night, it’s just … needed.
Game Info
Philadelphia Phillies (32-26) at Chicago Cubs (33-24) – 7:05 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: Jose Quintana (L): 4.30 ERA, 4.43 FIP; 1.97g K/BB
versus
Phillies: Aaron Nola (R): 2.18 ERA, 2.62 FIP; 4.11 K/BB
Philadelphia Phillies Lineup:
- Cesar Hernandez, 2B
- Odubel Herrera, CF
- Scott Kingery, SS
- Carlos Santana, 1B
- Aaron Altherr, RF
- Nick Williams, LF
- Maikel Franco, 3B
- Jorge Alfaro, C
- Aaron Nola, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Javy Baez, SS
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Jose Quintana, P