NEWSLETTER
CUBS WIN!
It remains difficult to win both halves of a double-header, but the Cubs will give it a shot tonight. If they do pull of a victory, ensuring at least three of five in this series overall, it’ll be a sucessful weekend.
Mike Montgomery is getting the ball for the Cubs this evening, in what will be his first start of the second half, but 10th start of the season – can’t believe it’s already been that many. As a starter, Montgomery experienced a TON of success early on, but has since settled into some more mediocrity. After allowing one or fewer runs in each of his first five starts, he’s allowed three (2) or four (2) runs in each of his last four, while lasting just 5.0 IP in three of them. In reality, that’s actually perfectly fine for a “fifth” starter, but 1) right now, the Cubs seem to have five fifth starters, 2) the upside he showed at the outset is still attainable, and 3) even if the pitcher were all pitching as well as they should be, Montgomery’s really more of the fourth starter, with Tyler Chatwood behind him.
Alas, here’s hoping some rest over the break can help him nudge that fastball velocity back up, so he can be that dominant starter he was for five straight games earlier this season.
Starting opposite Montgomery is Cardinals righty John Gant. Gant, 25, has made six starts for the Cardinals this season and six other appearances in relief. He’s also made eight starts at the Minor league level, where the results were very good (1.65 ERA), but the peripherals were not (4.43 FIP).
At the big league level, Gant has struck out just 20.9% of the batters he’s faced, while walking 10.7%. Opposing batters are hitting just .180 off him (thank you, .219 BABIP) despite a sky-high 43.6% hard-hit rate. To be fair, Gant also gets a fair amount of soft contact, but still that much hard contact should result in a much higher BABIP, and, thus, batting average and everything else. The Cubs could be well-served by being patient and taking their walks, but I rather see them come out swinging. You can hit this guy, so just do it.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (56-39) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (49-47) – FOX, 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): 3.91 ERA, 4.22 FIP; 1.92 K/BB
versus
Cardinals: John Gant (R): 3.49 ERA, 3.59 FIP; 1.95 K/BB
St. Louis Cardinals:
- Harison Bader, RF
- Jose Martínez, 1B
- Paul DeJong, SS
- Marcell Ozuna, LF
- Tommy Pham, CF
- Greg Garcia, 2B
- Yairo Muñoz, 3B
- Francisco Peña, C G
- John Gant, SP
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Javy Baez, 2B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Mike Montgomery, P
