NEWSLETTER
The Cubs are hosting the Padres tonight in the first of four games and there’s a lefty on the mound for each team.
The Cubs are throwing Mike Montgomery, who’s taken over Tyler Chatwood’s spot in the starting rotation (at least until Yu Darvish comes back), and he’s coming off a rough start against the Cardinals (5 ER in 5.o IP). The game before that, though, he went six innings with just one earned run, so hopefully he can jump right back on the horse after the stumble.
The Padres have the 10th lowest wRC+ against lefties this season, but they do have the fourth *highest* hard hit rate. Interesting. Hopefully, Montgomery can miss some bats.
The Padres, meanwhile, are throwing Robbie Erlin, who’s been very good this season, but mostly as a reliever (2 starts, 27 relief appearances). In fact, Erlin hasn’t even started since May 21st, though he did throw 3.2 innings of scoreless relief against the D-Backs on July 27th, so you know he’s got it in him. For his career, Erlin has actually been tougher on righties than lefties, so maybe Albert Almora and Addison Russell won’t have the greatest matchup after all.
I expect the Cubs to win a lot this weekend, so let’s see if they can start with a “W” tonight.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (62-45) vs. San Diego Padres (42-68) – Thursday, August 2nd at 7:05 CT on 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: Mike Montgomery (L): 4.03 ERA, 4.11 FIP; 1.93 K/BB
versus
Pirates: Robbie Erlin (L): 3.47 ERA, 3.31 FIP; 8.33 K/BB
San Diego Padres:
- Manuel Margot, CF
- Wil Myers, LF
- Hunter Renfroe, RF
- Eric Hosmer, 1B
- Christian Villanueva, 3B
- Austin Hedges, C
- Freddy Galvis, SS
- Jose Pirela, 2B
- Robbie Erlin, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Javy Baez, 3B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Ian Happ, LF
- Addison Russell, SS
- Mike Montgomery, P
- David Bote, 3B
