NEWSLETTER
CUBS LINEUP — The first Cubs-Cardinals game of the season was banged on account of rain last night, which is a bummer, because it was Shota Imanaga night. The Cubs are using the unexpected night off to buy Imanaga some more rest. So Jameson Taillon will start today against Miles Mikolas, who was scheduled to go last night for the Cardinals.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Mike Tauchman, LF
- Seiya Suzuki, RF
- Cody Bellinger, CF
- Chris Morel, DH
- Nico Hoerner, 2B
- Michael Busch, 1B
- Dansby Swanson, SS
- Patrick Wisdom, 3B
- Miguel Amaya, C
Craig Counsell is rolling with the same Cubs lineup he had slated to go last night, so here’s what we said yesterday:
Lefties are hitting Mikolas slightly better than righties are this season, which tracks with his career, but batters of both types are hitting him just fine overall:
vLHH: .295/.339/.514 (.367 wOBA)
vRHH: .294/.325/.495 (.357 wOBA)
And that’s perhaps why the Cubs were happy enough to give Ian Happ the night off effectively in favor of Patrick Wisdom. Wisdom is the 3B in the Cubs lineup tonight, pushing Morel to DH, which means one of Tauchman/Happ were going to sit. And seeing as Tauchman is the de facto leadoff man versus righties, that was that!
Happ does have a pretty solid history against Mikolas, hitting .294 with a .333 OBP over 34 at-bats, but he’s also struck out 10 times and has low SLG against him.
Nico Hoerner is hitting .391 off Mikolas with an .826 OPS. Swanson (.895 OPS) has hit him well too. For what it’s worth (not much, as these are all relatively tiny samples), Wisdom is 3-11 with a homer, two walks, and 6Ks vs Mikolas in his career. The Cubs are certainly hoping he can just run into one tonight.
Everybody else is at their usual spots of the Cubs lineup, with Miguel Amaya behind the plate.
St. Louis Cardinals Lineup:
- Brendan Donovan, LF
- Lars Nootbaar, RF
- Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
- Nolan Arenado, 3B
- Alec Burleson, DH
- Nolan Gorman, 2B
- Ivan Herrera, C
- Masyn Winn, SS
- Michael Siani, CF
Pitching Matchup:
Chicago Cubs: Jameson Taillon, RHP
Jameson Taillon bounced back from that Braves blow up his last time out, but it still wasn’t that great of an outing: 4.2 IP, 6H, 3ER, 2BB, 4K. Hopefully, he can look more like the guy he did in his first four starts coming off the injured list this evening against St. Louis: 24.0 IP, 16H, 3ER, 5BB, 16Ks. The Cardinals are an above-average offense overall versus right-handed pitching, but Willson Contreras was carrying most of that weight with his .265/.384/.506 (157 wRC+) slash line versus righties. And he is, of course, out with a fractured arm.
St. Louis Cardinals: Miles Mikolas, RHP
Miles Mikolas has had five solid starts this season out of ten tries, with the other five being quite horrible. All together, that adds up to a 5.77 ERA with a 4.61 FIP that’s far better, but still not anywhere close to good. Mikolas may not be walking anyone (4.8 BB%), but opposing batters are hitting .290 off him with the worst HR/9 rate of his career. It’s time to hit.
Broadcast Info:
Chicago Cubs (27-24) vs St. Louis Cardinals (23-16) at 6:15 pm CT – FOX, 670 The Score
CHICAGO CUBS: Drew Smyly, Jordan Wicks, Daniel Palencia, Yency Almonte, Colten Brewer, Adbert Alzolay, Keegan Thompson, Caleb Kilian, Julian Merryweather
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: Willson Contreras, Kenyan Middleton, Steven Matz, Giovanny Gallegos, Tommy Edman
