Cubs vs Pirates: Pitching Matchup, Broadcast Info
Please, Cubs. Just complete the dang sweep. You’ve got your Ace, Marcus Stroman, on the mound. You got to sleep in your own beds last night. And you’ve got your first place team on the ropes. This is the last stand stretch of the season … get it done. Here’s a look at the Cubs lineup for the finale against Pittsburgh.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
Mike Tauchman, CF Nico Hoerner, 2B Seiya Suzuki, RF Ian Happ, LF Dansby Swanson, SS Cody Bellinger, 1B Chris Morel, DH Nick Madrigal, 3B Tucker Barnhart, C
Cody Bellinger is back and in the Cubs lineup! He’s also playing first base tonight, as expected, which may mean the end of Matt Mervis’ first run in the big leagues. IF that is the move (update: ope … it is), and I suspect it is, he’ll be back soon enough.
Meanwhile, other good news: Ian Happ is back out in left field. He was the DH yesterday, after leaving Tuesday’s game with a calf injury. So it’s nice to see him healthy enough to play the field. Having vacated the role, Chris Morel enters the lineup as the DH.
Beyond that, you’ll see both Miguel Amaya and Yan Gomes on the bench in favor of Tucker Barnhart. That’s likely because tonight’s Pirates starter, Johan Oviedo, has fairly significant lefty/righty splits in favor of lefties.
vsRHH: .228/.299/.325 (.280 wOBA)
vsLHH: .256/.354/.404 (.334 wOBA)
This Barnhart’s second start of the series – he had two hits on Tuesday, plus a run scored.
Pittsburgh Pirates Lineup:
TBA
Pitching Matchup:
Chicago Cubs: Marcus Stroman, RHP
It sure is nice to have Marcus Stroman on the mound NOT to play stopper, but to hopefully help the Cubs get a sweep! There’s no one you rather have right now, with Stroman absolutely LOCKED IN over his last five starts: 35.2 IP, 5ER (1.26 ERA). He’s not really striking guys out during that stretch, but he’s got a -0.4 average launch angle (LOL) with a ridiculous 67.4% groundball rate. The Pirates haven’t been a very groundball heavy team, particularly against righties, so we’ll have to see which side wins out tonight. It wouldn’t hurt if the Cubs lineup put up another ten runs though ….
Pittsburgh Pirates: Johan Oviedo, RHP
If Johan Oviedo’s name looks familiar it’s because he used to pitch for the Cardinals, where he was a top-10 organizational prospect as recently as 2021, before they traded him to the Pirates as part of the Jose Quintana deal. And although Oviedo’s season-long numbers aren’t great this year (4.16 ERA), he actually has thrown a number of gems and has been on a bit of a heater here lately. His last six starts: 34.1 IP, 10 ER (2.62 ERA) with 30 strikeouts. Lefties hit him a lot better than righties, so that explains some of the decisions in the Cubs lineup tonight.
Broadcast Info:
Chicago Cubs (30-37) vs Pittsburgh Pirates (34-32) at 7:05 pm CT on Marquee Sports Network, 670 The Score
Source: bleachernation.com
