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Cubs, Pirates meet in Pittsburgh on Monday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 4/24/2017  at  11:06:00 AM
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CHICAGO CUBS (10-8)

at PITTSBURGH PIRATES (8-10)

First pitch: Monday, 7:05 p.m. ET
Line: Chicago -120, Pittsburgh +110, Total: 8.5

The Cubs will be going for their fifth win in six games when they face the Pirates on Monday.

Chicago has been playing some good baseball recently, as the team has now won four of its past five games. The Cubs dropped the final game of a three-game series with the Reds on Sunday, but they did win that series. It was the second consecutive series win for Chicago, and the team will now be hoping to bury Pittsburgh a bit further in the standings. The Pirates are, however, coming into this game with a little bit of momentum. Pittsburgh took two in a three-game set with the Yankees last weekend, and the starting pitching showed up in a big way. Outside of an 11-5 loss in the second game of the series, the Pirates allowed just four earned runs in the other two contests. They’ll need their starters to be good in this series as well, and that all starts with RHP Chad Kuhl (1-1, 2.60 ERA, 14 K) on Monday. Kuhl will be on the mound for Pittsburgh in this one, and he’ll be going up against LHP Brett Anderson (1-0, 4.40 ERA, 11 K). Anderson was awful in his last start for Chicago, but he was excellent in the two prior. One trend that sticks out when looking at this game is the fact that Chicago is 35-15 against the money line when the line is -110 to-150 over the past two seasons.

The Cubs are looking to stay hot with a win over the Pirates and they’re sending Anderson to the mound in this one. Anderson was absolutely awful in his last start, allowing six earned runs in 3.2 innings of work. He let up eight hits, and he’ll need to be a bit better at avoiding contact moving forward. He was a lot better in his previous two starts, allowing eight hits total in those games. Offensively, 1B Anthony Rizzo (.296 BA, 4 HR, 11 RBI) has been on a tear for Chicago. Rizzo enters this game on a 12-game hitting streak, and he has hit homers in three straight contests as well. Look for him to keep it up on Monday, as he is 4-for-7 with a double, a triple, and a homer against Kuhl in his career. Both 3B Javier Baez (.213 BA, 1 HR, 4 RBI) and 2B Ben Zobrist (.212 BA, 2 HR, 5 RBI) are candidates to get back on track in this game too. They have each homered off of Kuhl, and it’d be big if they can start producing moving forward.

The Pirates are coming off of a nice series win over the Yankees and Chad Kuhl will be hoping to get them another victory on Monday. Kuhl has been excellent for Pittsburgh this season, allowing two or fewer earned runs in three consecutive starts. He did issue six walks in his first start of the year, but he was able to get himself out of jams in that game and has only walked one batter since. His control will be important on Monday, but he won’t want to force too many balls right over the plate against a powerful Cubs team. Offensively, the Pirates will need both OFs Gregory Polanco (.236 BA, 0 HR, 4 RBI) and Andrew McCutchen (.265 BA, 3 HR, 9 RBI) to do some damage here. Polanco has been miserable to start the season, and he’ll need to get hot for this team soon. McCutchen, meanwhile, has actually gotten hits in nine of his past 10 games. He has hit three homers in that span, and it appears he has put last season’s struggles behind him.


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