Tonight, Jose Quintana will try to break free from a three-game stretch of 5.0 inning starts. He had gone 6.0 innings or more in five of the six starts before that, but he’s struggled to last deep lately beyond that.
With that said, he held the Reds to just two earned runs in his last start and the Pirates to just 1 earned run in the game before that, which is genuinely pretty good. But with this long stretch of games without a break, some length would be welcomed, even if the bullpen is about to get September 1st reinforcements.
Starting opposite Quintana tonight is 25-year-old righty Nick Pivetta. Pivetta is about to make his 27th start of the season – a new career high – and has results that are way behind his peripherals. At first glance, the general lack of soft contact and ground balls may help explain/justify the discrepancy, but you’d be wise to mostly ignore his 4.76 ERA, given that he has a 28.2% strikeout rate and 6.6% walk rate.
His 4.26 K/BB ratio is among the 15 best in MLB. The Cubs have their work cutout for them.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (79-54) at Philadelphia Phillies (71-62) – Friday, August 31st at 6:05 CT on NBCSC+, MLBN, 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): 4.33 ERA, 4.74 FIP; 1.93 K/BB
versus
Phillies: Nick Pivetta (R): 4.76 ERA, 3.61 FIP; 4.26 K/BB
Philadelphia Phillies:
- Roman Quinn, RF
- Rhys Hoskins, LF
- Cesar Hernandez, 2B
- Wilson Ramos, C
- Carlos Santana, 1B
- Asdrubal Cabrera, 3B
- Scott Kingery, SS
- Odubel Herrera, CF
- Nick Pivetta, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Daniel Murphy, 2B
- Javy Baez, SS
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Ben Zobrist, RF
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Willson Contreras, C
- Ian Happ, LF
- Jose Quintana, P
- David Bote, 3B