CUBS LINEUP โ The Cubs dropped each of the first two games against the Pirates, breaking their streak of five-straight series wins and six games in a row. The losses also dropped the Cubs back down to 4.5 games out of the Wild Card. A total season-rally killer. But tonight, they’ve got Shota Imanaga on the mound – at home – against not Paul Skenes or Jared Jones. So you have to win. Here’s a look at the Cubs lineup for the finale at Wrigley.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Ian Happ, LF
- Michael Busch, 1B
- Seiya Suzuki, DH
- Cody Bellinger, RF
- Isaac Paredes, 3B
- Nico Hoerner, 2B
- Dansby Swanson, SS
- Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF
- Miguel Amaya, C
No changes to the Cubs lineup tonight. It’s the regular group from top-to-bottom.
Pittsburgh Pirates Lineup:
- Isiah Kiner-Falefa, SS
- Bryan Reynolds, LF
- Nick Gonzales, 2B
- Andrew McCutchen, DH
- Oneil Cruz, CF
- Connor Joe, 1B
- Bryan De La Cruz, RF
- Jared Triolo, 3B
- Henry Davis, C
Pitching Matchup:
Chicago Cubs: Shota Imanaga, LHP
Shota Imanaga has given up a silly amount of home runs for a good long while now. In fact, his 20 longballs allowed since May 29 are tied for the 2nd most in MLB. Fortunately, thanks to a tiny walk rate and a high strikeout rate, a lot of these homers are solo shots, but still … he does have a 4.47 ERA in those 16 starts. Yikes. Imanaga has faced Pittsburgh once already this season, holding them scoreless over 7.0 IP on just four hits and one walk against seven strikeouts.
Pittsburgh Pirates: Domingo German, RHP
The Cubs saw Domingo German in relief last week, and they scored EIGHT runs off him on six hits and four walks in just 2.2 innings of work. I’d, uh, very much like a repeat of that performance tonight, please and thanks.
Broadcast Info:
Chicago Cubs (71-68) vs Pittsburgh Pirates (65-73) at 6:40 pm CT – Marquee Sports Network, 670 The Score
- Hayden Wesneski, SP
- Justin Steele?
- Julian Merryweather, RP
- Nick Madrigal, IF
- Ben Brown, RP
- Colten Brewer, RP
- Yency Almonte, RP
- Luke Little, RP
- Adbert Alzolay, RP
- Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B
- Joey Bart, C
- Ben Heller, RP
- Johan Oviedo, SP
- Endy Rodriguez, C
- Dauri Moreta, SP
- Daulton Jefferies, RP
- Hunter Stratton, RP
- Marco Gonzales, SP