NEWSLETTER
Later tonight, Keegan Thompson will make his first start of the 2022 season … as an official member of the Cubs rotation. He’s already made three starts this year – and six others last season – but as of this morning, he’s actually “in the rotation.”
The Cardinals present a pretty tough matchup for Thompson, and they have a couple especially hot hitters at the moment (Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Gorman), but Thompson has been very good all year in his 4-5 inning bursts (starting or otherwise). Speaking of which, I wouldn’t immediately expect Thompson to 6+ innings tonight, even if things are going well. My guess is he’ll be up in the 80-85 pitch range, however far that takes him, and that’ll be that.
Playing it slowly with an important young(er) arm, who’s hopped in and out of the rotation and could play a key role in the future, isn’t a bad thing.
Thompson will be countered by the Cardinals 2018 first-round draft pick Matthew Liberatore, who’s making just his third big league start this season. Liberatore was performing very well in Triple-A before his promotion (3.82 ERA, 46Ks in 40.0 IPs), and had a particularly convincing start his last time out against the Milwaukee Brewers: 5.0 IP, 2H, 0ER, 3BB, 6Ks.
Of course, the Brewers offense (84 wRC+, 27th in MLB) is quite a bit worse than the Cubs (103 wRC+, 17th) when it comes to facing lefties.
GO CUBS.
Game Info
St. Louis Cardinals (29-21) at Chicago Cubs (21-29) – Thursday, June 2 at 7:05 CT on MARQ, MLB.TV (free game of the day), 670 The Score
Starting Pitchers
Cardinals: Matthew Liberatore (L)
versus
Cubs: Keegan Thompson (R)
Chicago Cubs (Lineup Discussion):
1. Christopher Morel, CF
2. Willson Contreras, DH
3. Patrick Wisdom, 3B
4. Frank Schwindel, 1B
5. Nico Hoerner, SS
6. Ian Happ, LF
7. Clint Frazier, RF
8. P.J. Higgins, C
9. Nick Madrigal, 2B
St. Louis Cardinals:
1. Tommy Edman, SS
2. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
3. Nolan Arenado, 3B
4. Juan Yepez, LF
5. Brendan Donovan, 2B
6. Albert Pujols, DH
7. Yadier Molina, C
8. Lars Nootbaar, RF
9. Harrison Bader, CF
