NEWSLETTER
The Cubs have done a whole lot of winning lately and today’s starter, Mike Montgomery, has been a big part of that. But can he string together a third-straight excellent start?
While I don’t doubt his abilities as a starter, today’s outing will be a little more tough than usual. For one, the Pirates are actually a pretty good offense overall (101 wRC+, 11th in MLB). For another, they actually boast the third best offense in baseball (and best in the National League) against left-handed pitching (114 wRC+). And for yet another, Montgomery just faced the Pirates two starts ago, so they should have a good sense of his stuff, even though he has a lot of it.
At the same time, the Cubs did just face Chad Kuhl, too, so they should be plenty familiar with his stuff, as well. Like Montgomery, Kuhl got the best of the Cubs last time around (6.0 IP, 4H, 1ER, 5Ks), but they did manage to squeeze out four walks in the process, so maybe they’ll be even better prepared this time.
Lastly, lefties have crushed Kuhl this season (I kinda can’t believe Schwarber’s not in the lineup, especially considering how many ground balls Montgomery gets anyway), so hopefully guys like Jason Heyward, Anthony Rizzo, Ian Happ, and Ben Zobrist can make him pay.
A win today would put the Cubs at a season-high 12-games over .500. Let’s see it.
Game Info
Pittsburgh Pirates (31-31) at Chicago Cubs (35-24) – 1:20 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: Mike Montgomery (L): 3.89 ERA, 3.84 FIP, 2.18 K/BB
versus
Pirates: Chad Kuhl (R): 3.86 ERA, 4.80 FIP; 2.52 K/BB
Pittsburgh Pirates Lineup:
- Josh Harrison, 2B
- Austin Meadows, RF
- Starling Marte, CF
- Francisco Cervelli, C
- Corey Dickerson, LF
- David Freese, 1B
- Colin Moran, 3B
- Jordy Mercer, SS
- Chad Kuhl, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Ben Zobrist, 2B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Javy Baez, SS
- Ian Happ, LF
- Mike Montgomery, P
