Because of their silly, five-straight-games-of-exactly-one-run-scored-on-a-solo-homer record, the Cubs are at risk of being swept by the Tigers and losing their fourth straight contest. Of course, Joe Maddon has deployed his new offensive weapon, Daniel Murphy, right at the top of the order, so perhaps things will begin to chance.
Then again, Francisco Liriano has been absolutely brutal on left-handers this season, so maybe we should expect too much tonight. Then again (x2), Liriano is coming off a super-short start against the Twins, in which he allowed 8 runs to score (4 earned) on 5 hits and 3 walks in just 1.2 IP. More of that, please.
And more of “Big Jon Lester,” while we’re at it. In his last start, Lester went 6.0 scoreless inning with eight strikeouts and no walks, breaking up a streak of rough outings daring back to the beginning of July. It’s not easy to see if a guy has truly turned a corner after just one start, so let’s hope Lester continues what’ll eventually be a trend later tonight.
Go Cubs.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (71-53) at Detroit Tigers (52-74) – Wednesday, August 22nd at 6:10 CT on WGN, 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: Jon Lester (L): 3.72 ERA, 4.83 FIP; 2.17 K/B
versus
Tigers: Francisco Liriano (L): 4.72 ERA, 5.63 FIP; 1.33 K/BB
Detroit Tigers:
- Jeimer Candelario, 3B
- Jose Iglesias, SS
- Nicholas Castellanos, RF
- Niko Goodrum, 2B
- Victor Martinez, DH
- Mikie Mahtook, LF
- James McCann, C
- Ronny Rodriguez, 1B
- Victor Reyes, CF
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Daniel Murphy, 2B
- Javy Baez, SS
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Ben Zobrist, DH
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- David Bote, 3B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Ian Happ, LF