Okay, I was pretty chill about the Cubs loss last night, because of the Hendricks-of-it-all, but let’s get right back at it tonight, eh?
The Cubs offense was silent yesterday despite what, in my opinion, was a pretty good matchup for their right-handed hitters. Tonight, they’ll get another left-hander with significant splits in Derek Holland, so we’ll have to see if they can do any better.
Holland, 31, is taking tonight’s start in place of Johnny Cueto, who will still go tomorrow, in what will be his 18th start of the year. With that said, Holland has worked out of the bullpen in his last two appearances, so this’ll actually be his first start since a 3.2 IP performance against the Diamondbacks on July 1. It’s also worth noting that Holland faced the Cubs back on May 25, and allowed two earned runs over 6.0 IP. With just five hits, two walks, and six strikeouts, Holland was pretty darn good in that one. So hopefully, the Cubs have more luck this time.
More-hopefully, Jose Quintana will follow Kyle Hendricks example from yesterday and deliver the sort of pitching performance which usually leaves the offense with very little work to do for a win. Quintana’s latest start, July 4th against the Tigers, was actually quite good as he allowed just two earned runs over six innings pitched. He only struck out 4 and did walk 3 in that start, but he also allowed just 5 hits overall and got a TON soft contact (38.9%) and almost no hard contact (22.2%).
If he can keep the ball on the ground a bit more tonight, he and the Cubs should be in good shape.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (51-37) at San Francisco Giants (48-45) – Tuesday, July 10 at 9:15 CT on ABC-7, 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): 4.22 ERA, 4.71 FIP; 1.95 K/BB
versus
Giants: Derek Holland (L):
San Francisco Giants:
- Gorkys Hernandez, CF
- Brandon Belt, 1B
- Andrew McCutchen, RF
- Nick Hundley, C
- Brandon Crawford, SS
- Hunter Pence, LF
- Chase d’Arnaud, 2B
- Pablo Sandoval, 3B
- Derek Holland, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Javy Baez, 2B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Addison Russell, SS
- David Bote, 3B
- Ian Happ, LF
- Victor Caratini, 1B
- Jose Quintana, P