In 11 starts from June 15th to August 15, Alec Mills earned a 3.35 ERA on the strength of some pretty sound peripherals, including a 3.41 FIP, a 51.5% ground ball rate, and enough weak contact to make it all stick. And so for a while there, it looked like he had more or less pitched himself into the back-end of the Cubs rotation plans for next season.
But in his six starts since June 15th, Mills has a 6.34 ERA (4.76 FIP) with a lot more hard contact and a lot more elevated balls in play. It has been rough, and it’s now looking like he’s just another part of an evolving competition for the back end of the rotation alongside Adbert Alzolay, Justin Steele, and Keegan Thompson. Maybe that’s how it always should have been. Maybe the Cubs will be forced to give him something more than that if they can’t land enough in free agency. We’ll see. Either way, I’d really love it if he could finish the season strong. He could still get one more start after this one, if that’s how the Cubs want to go. Hopefully, he leaves us with something positive.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (67-89) at Pittsburgh Pirates (58-98) – Tuesday, September 28th at 1:20 CT on MARQ, 670 The Score
Starting Pitchers
Pirates: Mitch Keller (R)
versus
Cubs: Alec Mills (R)
Chicago Cubs (Lineup Discussion):
1. Rafael Ortega, CF
2. Frank Schwindel, 1B
3. Ian Happ, LF
4. Matt Duffy, 3B
5. Nick Martini, RF
6. David Bote, 2B
7. Sergio Alcantara, SS
8. Austin Romine, C
9. Alec Mills, P
Pittsburgh Pirates:
1. Cole Tucker, 2B
2. Kevin Newman, SS
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Colin Moran, 1B
5. Jacob Stallings, C
6. Ben Gamel, RF
7. Anthony Alford, LF
8. Hoy Park, 3B
9. Mitch Keller, P