CUBS LINEUP — The Cubs have already secured their fourth consecutive series win over the Pirates by beating up on Jared Jones last night. And that’s great. But also … not enough. They need to land the plane (complete a sweep) successfully one of these times. So let’s hope that’s today.
Unfortunately, today, the Cubs’ least effective starting pitcher (Kyle Hendricks) is going up against maybe the best pitcher in baseball this year, Paul Skenes. So … good luck! Here’s the Cubs lineup for their THIRD matchup against Skenes this season.
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
- Christian Bethancourt, C
No changes to the Cubs lineup today (man thꦅey announced this one LATE), with the exception of Miguel Amaya sitting in favor of Christian Bethancourt.
Normally, that wouldn’t even register, but now? Losing Miguel Amaya is like losing a significant bat! Then again, Bethancourt is slashing .364/.417/.773/225 wRC+ this season … in 24 PAs.
Pittsburgh Pirates Lineup:
- Isiah Kiner-Falefa, SS
- Bryan Reynolds, DH
- Oneil Cruz, CF
- Rowdy Tellez, 1B
- Connor Joe, RF
- Billy McKinney, LF
- Yasmani Grandal, C
- Jared Triolo, 3B
- Alika Williams, 2B
Pitching Matchup:
Chicago Cubs:
Kyle Hendricks hasn’t been great this year, but he has been on a run of four consecutive starts that have kept the Cubs in the game (3.92 ERA over 20.2 IP). Whether that sort of outing will be enough for the Cubs lineup against Paul Skenes remains to be seen, but that’s probably the most you can hope for out of Hendricks at this stage of his career. For what it’s worth, Hendricks has faced the Pirates twice already this season. The first time was pretty good, the second time … not so much:
@PIT 5/12: 5.0 IP, 2H, 1ER, 4BB, 5K
vsPIT 5/17: 4.2 IP, 11H, 8R, 7ER, 0BB, 4K
Although, to be fair, it’s never easy to face the same team back-to-back. That was also earlier in the season, before Hendricks switched up his pitch mix: 6.9% curveball usage through those two starts –> 15.9% after.
Pittsburgh Pirates:
Besides his MLB debut (which was against the Cubs!), Paul Skenes’ worst start of the season was 5.0 IP, 3ER with 8 strikeouts and just 1 walk … against the Dodgers. His second-worst start was 6.0 IP, 4ER with 8 strikeouts and just 1 walk … also against the Dodgers. So, you know. He’s good. Very very good. In his second outing against the Cubs earlier this year, he struck out 11 batters, walked one and allowed no hits through six innings. They’ll have to do more than that today to get a win.
Broadcast Info:
Chicago Cubs (67-66) vs Pittsburgh Pirates (62-7ꦕ0) at 11:35 pm CT – Marquee Sports Network, 670 The Score
:
:
