Well, regardless of the outcome today, the second-place Cubs dropped yet another series and are clearly in a bit of a slide. Let’s see if they can pull themselves out of it with this group against Adam Wainwright.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Kris Bryant, RF
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Javy Baez, SS
- Willson Contreras, C
- Jason Heyward, CF
- Addison Russell, 2B
- David Bote, 3B
- Cole Hamels, P
Welcome back, Javy Baez! The Cubs were without Baez last night after making him a late-scratch because of a nagging right heel injury. Hopefully, he’ll be good to go against Adam Wainwright, against whom he is 4-for-21 with six strikeouts, no walks, and just one extra-base hit. Go get ’em, No. 9!
Perhaps other spots in the lineup will pick up the slack today. This season, left-handed hitters are slashing a ridiculous .327/.393/.622 off Wainwright, with twice as many homers (6) than he’s allowed to righties (3) in 12.1 fewer innings. Put simply: lefties are CRUSHING him.
Unfortunately, the Cubs’ leadoff lefty, Kyle Schwarber, hasn’t done much of anything this series (0-9, 3Ks). He’s hardly the only member of the offense not carrying his weight – Kris Bryant is 1-9 with 4 strikeouts – but when you have that sort of vacuum on top of the lineup, well, runs won’t be easy to come by. And worse, Schwarber is 0-9 with 3 strikeouts against Wainwright for his career.
Fortunately, several Cubs in today’s lineup have had success against Wainwright in the past, including
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ post closer to game time.