Pre-Gamin’: Phillies at Cubs (7:05 CT) – Lineups, Broadcast Info, Game Thread

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.

  • The Series Preview lives here.
  • The Lineup Discussion lives here.
  • 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:

    1. Cesar Hernandez, 2B
    2. Odubel Herrera, CF
    3. Scott Kingery, SS
    4. Carlos Santana, 1B
    5. Aaron Altherr, RF
    6. Nick Williams, LF
    7. Maikel Franco, 3B
    8. Jorge Alfaro, C
    9. Aaron Nola, P

    Chicago Cubs Lineup:

    1. Ben Zobrist, 2B
    2. Jason Heyward, RF
    3. Kris Bryant, 3B
    4. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
    5. Willson Contreras, C
    6. Kyle Schwarber, LF
    7. Javy Baez, SS
    8. Albert Almora Jr., CF
    9. Jose Quintana, P

    written by

    Michael Cerami began covering the Chicago Cubs for Bleacher Nation as a part-time contributor in 2015. One year later, he joined Bleacher Nation full-time, covering the Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball. Today, Michael runs Bleacher Nation, contributing as a writer (Cubs, MLB) and an editor for all sections of the site, including the Chicago Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks, as well as MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL. In 2019, Michael was the co-host of NBC Sports Chicago's Cubs Post-Game Show Outside the Ivy. You can find him on Twitter/X @Michael_Cerami

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