Tonight’s game is an exact rematch of the Cubs big comeback win over the Pirates at Wrigley Field last week. Like last time, the Pirates are starting Osvaldo Bido and the Cubs are countering with Drew Smyly. But don’t forget: Although that game ultimately fell in the Cubs favor, Smyly had a rough outing and the Cubs lineup didn’t really break through against Bido in his 4.0 inning big-league debut. So let’s hope for the same outcome, with smoother sailing this time around.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Mike Tauchman, CF
- Nico Hoerner, 2B
- Seiya Suzuki, DH
- Ian Happ, LF
- Dansby Swanson, SS
- Cody Bellinger, 1B
- Chris Morel, RF
- Yan Gomes, C
- Miles Mastrobuoni, 3B
The Cubs lineup is pretty straight forward for tonight’s matchup against the Pirates, though the positioning is a little different than usual. Seiya Suzuki will get a night off his feet, serving as the designated hitter, while Chris Morel flexes some positional versatility as the right fielder.
With DH settled and Yan Gomes behind the plate, Miguel Amaya is on the bench, though that’s what we expected anyway given his early exit after being hit by a pitch yesterday (X-Rays were clean, so now we just wait and hope).
The only alternate face in the Cubs lineup, then, is Miles Mastrobuoni, now competing with only Nick Madrigal for playing time at third with Patrick Wisdom on the IL.
Pittsburgh Pirates Lineup:
- Andrew McCutchen, DH
- Bryan Reynolds, CF
- Connor Joe, LF
- Carlos Santana, 1B
- Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B
- Radolpho Castro, 2B
- Henry Davis, RF
- Tucapita Marcano, SS
- Austin Hedges, C
Pitching Matchup:
Chicago Cubs: Drew Smyly, LHP
Despite a couple of solid outings, Drew Smyly hasn’t really been on top of his game lately — at least, in terms of consistency. His last time out, he allowed five earned runs in 6.0 IP against the Pirates. In his two starts before that, Smyly held the Angels and Padres to a combined 5 ER over 11.2 IP. And in the game before that one, he allowed the Reds to tag him for 5 earned runs over 4.2 IP. Add all that up and you get a 6.04 ERA over his last four games, even despite the two solid starts in the middle. Hopefully, he’s figured something about how to attack these Pirates, too, because they clearly got to him (nine hits, including three HRs).
Pittsburgh Pirates: Osvaldo Bido, RHP
Last time the Cubs lineup faced Osvaldo Bido, I joked that the Cubs never do well against pitchers making their major league debuts, and, well … what do you know: He held them to 1 earned run over 4.0 IP. Obviously, that’s not much of a gem, and the Cubs came storming back to win that game against the Pirates, but still. They should really do a lot more damage against this guy. Hopefully, having seen him and having gotten Cody Bellinger back in the starting lineup, things will go better for the Cubs this time around.
Broadcast Info:
Chicago Cubs (33-38) vs Pittsburgh Pirates (34-36) at 6:05 pm CT on Marquee Sports Network, 670 The Score
