After saving the day and preventing a five-game losing streak last night, David Bote is back in the lineup this afternoon, replacing Kris Bryant at third base. In Bryant’s place atop the lineup, you’ll find Ian Happ, playing center field. Let’s hope he has a little more luck in that role than Bryant has this season.
Meanwhile, Yu Darvish is taking the mound for the Cubs (who are once again the home team at Wrigley Field), in what will be his fifth start of the season. Since a rough-ish debut against Milwaukee, Darvish has delivered three straight quality starts, including an 11-strikeout gem against the Brewers his second time facing them: 7.0 IP, 1ER, 2BB, 11Ks.
More: Darvish has allowed just 2 earned runs over his past 20 innings, has walked just 4 batters against 27 strikeouts, and has a 1.88 ERA. If you want to say something bad about Darvish, you could point to his sub-40% ground ball rate, but that’s never really his game and he’s inducing a TON of weak contact anyway (22.8 soft%, 3rd best in MLB) … so, yes, he’s been really good. Let’s hope he can keep it up tonight.
Go Cubs.
Game Info
St. Louis Cardinals (5-5) at Chicago Cubs (14-7) – Tuesday, August 18th at 7:15 CT on MARQ, FS1, 670 The Score
Starting Pitchers
Cardinals: Daniel Ponce de Leon (R)
versus
Cubs: Yu Darvish (R)
Chicago Cubs (discussion here):
1. Ian Happ, CF
2. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
3. Javy Baez, SS
4. Kyle Schwarber, LF
5. Willson Contreras, DH
6. Jason Heyward, RF
7. David Bote, 3B
8. Victor Caratini, C
9. Jason Kipnis, 2B
St. Louis Cardinals:
1. Kolten Wong, 2B
2. Tommy Edman, SS
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Tyler O’Neill, LF
5. Matt Carpenter, DH
6. Brad Miller, 3B
7. Dylan Carson, CF
8. Dexter Fowler, RF
9. Matt Wieters, C