Game Thirty-Seven – Cubs (12-24) vs. Cardinals (19-19)
- Game Time – 7:10pm CDT
- Coverage – TV: Comcast SportsNet, ESPN – Radio: 720 WGN, XM Radio Channels 183, 844
- Location – Busch Stadium, St. Louis
Travis Wood (2-4, 4.75/1.44/3.42) vs. Tyler Lyons (0-2, 3.43/1.05/3.32)
Weather permitting … The Cubs opens a four-game series in St. Louis tonight. The Cubs and Cardinals match up for the third time this season with the Cubs already returning to St. Louis before the quarter-mark of the season. The Cubs lost two of three to the Redbirds at Busch Stadium last month (April 11-13) and started May by winning the first two of the three game series at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs beat Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha in consecutive days and appeared to be taking steps forward as a team. Since beating the Cardinals at Wrigley on Sat. May 4, the Cubs have lost seven of eight.
Other than singles, the Cubs are not hitting and it gets even worse with runners in scoring position. The Cubs did little of anything against a White Sox staff (12 total hits in three of the four games) without Chris Sale and followed up the embarrassing series on the South Side by striking out 37 times over three games in Atlanta. And the Cubs will face Wainwright and Wacha during the next four games, that is if the weather permits the games to be played.
After tonight’s matchup of lefties Travis Wood and Tyler Lyons, Jake Arrieta is scheduled to face Adam Wainwright on Tuesday. Jason Hammel and Michael Wacha are penciled in for Wednesday. If there are not any postponements, Jeff Samardzija and Lance Lynn square off in the finale on Thursday afternoon. The Cubs travel back to St. Louis at the end of August (Aug. 29-31) if one of the games is not able to be played over the next four days.
The Cubs will try to avoid loss No. 10,001 tonight and the four-game series in St. Louis all starts with Travis Wood …
Travis Wood is coming off a horrible start on the South Side, and arguably his worst outing in a Cubs’ uniform. Wood was not receiving the same calls as John Danks and he appeared to allow the inconsistent strike zone to get to him. Wood lasted only four-plus innings and allowed eight runs on eight hits with five walks and three strikeouts.
Travis Wood has really struggled on the road this year. Win-loss record aside (0-3 in three starts), he has surrendered 15 runs on 26 hits with eight walks and eight strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings. Wood surrendered 11 hits in the Bronx last month and eight more hits with five walks on the South Side. The amount of baserunners is concerning (2.22 WHIP) and he must hit his spots while mixing his pitches to be successful. And he is simply not doing either on the road.
Travis Wood was very good against the Cardinals two starts ago and beat the Redbirds after allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits with no walks and seven strikeouts in seven innings. Wood is 4-5 in 12 career starts against the Cardinals with a 4.90 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP … and at Busch Stadium, Wood is 1-3 in five starts with a 4.94 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP.
Cardinals Career Numbers against Travis Wood
- Matt Holliday: 8-for-29 with two doubles, two home runs and one walk
- Yadier Molina: 12-for-30 with four doubles and three home runs
- Jon Jay: 10-for-25 with two doubles and three walks
- Allen Craig: 8-for-25 with one double, two home runs and one walk
- Matt Carpenter: 5-for-19 with one double, one home run and two walks
- Mark Ellis: 2-for-12 with one double and one walk
- Daniel Descalso: 3-for-7 with one triple
- Jhonny Peralta: 2-for-6 with one double
- Matt Adams: 2-for-4
- Tony Cruz: 1-for-3 with one double
- Peter Bourjos: 0-for-1
Tyler Lyons is making his fourth start of the season tonight. Lyons started games at the end of April (April 21, April 26) and completed six innings in each outing. Lyons gave up two runs on six hits with four walks and seven strikeouts in New York and the Pirates touched him up for four runs on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts in six innings in his next start. Lyons made two appearances out of the pen, including an inning of relief against the Cubs in Chicago on May 2, before making the start six days ago in Atlanta. Lyons gave up one run on four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in six innings.
Tyler Lyons makes the first start of his career against the Cubs tonight. Lyons has pitched only one inning against the Cubs and retired Starlin Castro (0-for-1), Anthony Rizzo (0-for-1) and Nate Schierholtz (0-for-1) in order. Castro, Rizzo and Schierholtz are the only Cubs that have faced Lyon in a big league ballgame.
Let’s Talk Cubs Baseball …