NEWSLETTER
With a 5.01 ERA and 5.05 FIP, Tyler Chatwood is officially just, you know, who he is. For a while there – right at the beginning – his results were still good despite poor peripherals and failed eye-test after failed eye-test, but no longer. Now it’s all out there and his numbers perfectly reflect how good (er, you know what I mean) he’s been this season.
But he’s still the Cubs starter tonight, so the best we can do is wish him/hope for the best. As Brett discussed this morning, there’s almost no outcome, including a perfect game or whatever, that would suddenly make the Cubs immediately comfortable regarding his outlook the rest of the way. So there’s no need to be worried that they’ll change their deadline plans because of it. Winning is all that matters, so let’s hope Chatwood delivers his best tonight.
Starting opposite Chatwood is former Cub Clayton Richard. Richard has been mediocre to bad this season, but is capable of throwing the occasional gem (he’s gone 7.0 innings or more eight times this season!). Most recently, however, he lasted just 5.0 innings against the D-Backs allowing three earned runs thanks in part to four walks against just two strikeouts. The game before that, he walked 5 batters in 6.0 innings and allowed 5 earned runs, so I think the strategy tonight should be patience.
Fortunately, the Cubs have the greatest leadoff hitter of all time batting first, so everything should be okay:
Tonight is 2nd time Rizzo will lead off this season. Last season, he was 15-for-50 (.300) in the No. 1 spot with 5 HRs, 2 2B and 1 3B. #Cubs
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) July 13, 2018
Let’s finish this first half strong, eh Cubs?
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (52-38) at San Diego Padres (40-56) – CSN-C, 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: Tyler Chatwood (R): 5.01 ERA, 5.05 FIP; 1.06 K/BB
versus
Padres: Clayton Richard (L): 4.50 ERA, 4.15 FIP; 2.10 K/BB
San Diego Padres:
- Travis Jankowski, RF
- Carlos Asuaje, 2B
- Wil Myers, LF
- Eric Hosmer, 1B
- Christian Villanueva, 3B
- Freddy Galvis, SS
- Manuel Margot, CF
- Austin Hedges, C
- Clayton Richard, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Javy Baez, 3B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Addison Russell, SS
- Ben Zobrist, RF
- Ian Happ, LF
- Tyler Chatwood, P
