Tonight marks the start of five straight games against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field. Drew Smyly is taking the ball for the Cubs and he’ll square up against Jordan Montgomery in a battle of the lefties.
If you’ve been watching, you know that Smyly has turned in three straight very solid outings for the Cubs, amounting to a combined 17.0 IP, 13H, 2ER, 3BB, 17Ks. He’s gone at least 5.0 innings in all three of those contests, nearly completing the 7th in the first of those three games.
Smyly hasn’t faced the Cardinals yet this season, so he’s got that going for him, but St. Louis is the top offense against left-handed pitching in MLB this year: .273/.347/.463 (130 wRC+). So … you know. Yikes.
The Cubs have been just a dash below average against left-handed pitching this season (98 wRC+), and Montgomery dominated them in their first matchup of the year (when he was with the Yankees): 7.0 IP, 5H, 0ER, 0BB, 5Ks. In fact, that was Montgomery’s best start of the season.
And since coming over from New York, Montgomery has allowed just 1 earned run in three starts (16.2 IP) with 17Ks and just 3 walks.
Game Info
St. Louis Cardinals (69-51) at Chicago Cubs (52-68) – Monday, August 22 at 7:05 CT on MARQ, 670 The Score
Starting Pitchers
Cardinals: Jordan Montgomery, LHP
Cubs: Drew Smyly, LHP
Chicago Cubs (Lineup Discussion):
- Nick Madrigal, 2B
- Willson Contreras, C
- Ian Happ, LF
- Seiya Suzuki, RF
- Franmil Reyes, DH
- Nico Hoerner, SS
- Nelson Velázquez, CF
- P.J. Higgins, 1B
- Chris Morel, 3B
St. Louis Cardinals:
- Tommy Edman, 2B
- Dylan Carlson, CF
- Paul Goldschmidt, DH
- Nolan Arenado, 3B
- Albert Pujols, 1B
- Tyler O’Neill, LF
- Paul DeJong, SS
- Yadi Molina, C
- Lars Nootbaar, Rf