After kicking off the month of May with a surprising loss to a short-handed Braves team, the Chicago Cubs quickly got it together by responding with two-straight wins at the expense of the Pittsburgh Pirates. And more importantly, the Cubs now have a chance to complete the sweep in the final meeting of their three-game set versus the Pirates. Can Chicago succeed in doing so? Or will the Bucs get the last laugh?
Read on below for a comprehensive look at this game. You might as well check out our preview for the series-finale between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles.
Thanks to another brilliant showing from Jake Arrieta last night, the Chicago Cubs have improved to 19-6 this season and are on the brink of sweeping their first regular-season series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. That may just be the case especially with Jon Lester, who is 2-1 with a 1.83 ERA, set to toe the rubber for the Cubs tonight.
Lester’s currently at his finest form right now. He’ll be entering PNC Park fresh off a solid performance against the Braves on April 29. In that game, the 32-year-old veteran logged in seven innings of one-run ball and registered a total of 10 strikeouts for the second time this season.
Moreover, Lester has always delivered the goods whenever he’s up against the Bucs. He holds a 2-2 win-loss record along with a 1.86 ERA and 1.03 WHIP across four career starts in this matchup. And needless to say, it won’t be surprising to see him perform really well in the series-finale later.
As for the offense, expect the pair of Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo to continue torching the Bucs at the plate.
Bryant has gone 4-of-8 along with a double during the first two games of this series. He’ll also be looking to extend his hitting-streak to 10 games.
Rizzo, on the other hand, has been holding a relatively hot bat as well. He leads the team in homers (8) and RBIs (27) this year despite owning a batting average of .230. Rizzo, however, is still hitless (0-of-7) against Pittsburgh’s starter Juan Nicasio.
Chicago is 8-2 SU in its last 10 road games.
Betting on the Pittsburgh Pirates (15-12)
The offense has been absent for Pittsburgh in this series. The Bucs have only managed to deliver two runs in the first two games, and they desperately need some timely runs in tonight’s series-finale against the Cubs.
That said, the pressure is on the tandem of Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen to light up the plate for the Pirates. Both went 0-for-4 combined in last night loss in Game 2, but even so, these two can get it going at any given moment.
Marte leads the team in batting (.324) and hits (35), while McCutchen owns a team-best of six homers. He also holds a solid triple-slash line of .313/.422/.514 throughout his career against the Cubs.
Meanwhile, getting the nod for the Pirates will be Juan Nicasio (3-2, 3.33 ERA), and his team should be feeling pretty good about this. Nicasio dominated his previous start against the Reds on April 29, during which he struck out eight batters across seven shutout innings. Nicasio, though, is 1-1 with a 4.32 ERA across six career games (two starts) opposite Chicago.
Pittsburgh is 3-7 SU in its last 10 games at PNC Park.
Writer’s Prediction
Chicago (-139) gets the sweep with another dominant 6-2 victory.
