(UPDATE: Kyle Schwarber has been scratched from the lineup with a right knee injury. More coming.)
Tonight, the Chicago Cubs are going for their third series sweep of the season, behind Kyle Hendricks and the same group you saw yesterday.
Chicago Cubs Lineup (UPDATED):
1. Kris Bryant, LF
2. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
3. Javy Baez, SS
4. Willson Contreras, C
5. Ian Happ, CF
6. Jason Heyward, RF
7. David Bote, 3B
8. Victor Caratini, DH
9. Jason Kipnis, 2B
UPDATES: In Schwarber’s absence, Kris Bryant is heading out to left field and David Bote steps into third base. Bote slides in above Caratini, moving everyone up a spot.
Against another Cleveland righty, David Ross is rolling out the exact same lineup that scored seven runs last night. However, on paper, they’ll have a tougher matchup in Carlos Carrasco, who’s off to a great start in terms of results and against whom they have essentially no significant experience.
Take a look at Carrasco’s first three starts of 2020:
Start 1: 6.0 IP, 5H, 2ER, 1BB, 10K
Start 2: 6.0 IP, 6H, 3ER, 1BB, 5K
Start 3: 6.0 IP, 1H, 0ER, 4BB, 8K
That’s three straight quality starts to begin the year with 23 strikeouts and 6 walks. HOWEVER …
Carrasco’s .237 BABIP is well below his career mark (.308), his 94.6% strand rate is extremely unsustainable, and his 58.5% hard-hit rate, 7.3% soft hit rate, and career high 93.3 MPH average exit velocity all reveal a lot more damage has been done than you’d expect. So … I think the Cubs should help those numbers normalize, don’t you?
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ post closer to game time (5:10 CT).