Game Nineteen: Cubs (11-7) vs. Pirates (11-9)
- Game Time – 7:05pm CDT
- Coverage – TV: WPWR My50 – Radio: WBBM 780, Cubs Radio Network, XM Radio Channels 184, 844
- Location – Wrigley Field, Chicago
Travis Wood (1-1, 3.24/1.20/3.68) vs. Jeff Locke (2-0, 3.32/1.16/4.22)
The Cubs have won 10 of the last 15 games and will shoot for their first four-game winning streak of the season tonight behind Travis Wood.
Joe Maddon will run out a right-handed lineup tonight with lefty Jeff Locke on the hill. Welington Castillo will be behind the plate. Will Maddon go with Chris Denorfia or Junior Lake in left field instead of Chris Coghlan? Right handers (.254/.328/.348/.640) have hit a little better than lefties (.255/.336/.308/.606) against Locke over the course of his career.
With the long outing from Jason Hammel, Maddon will have his entire bullpen at his disposal tonight if Wood runs into trouble.
Tonight all starts with Travis Wood …
Due to the rainout in Cincinnati, Travis Wood will face the Pirates in back-to-back starts on two extra days of rest. Wood was scheduled to face Jason Marquis on Sunday afternoon in what would have been the finale of the three-game series against the Reds. Instead of starting the opener of the homestand, the Cubs decided to keep Jason Hammel on regular rest and it paid off with eight shutout innings and a win over the Pirates.
Travis Wood makes his fourth start of the year tonight. And Joe Maddon is looking for Wood to put together an outing like he did on April 15 when he held the Reds scoreless for seven innings at Wrigley Field.
Travis Wood lasted only five innings in Pittsburgh his last time out and gave up three runs on four hits in five innings. Wood served up home runs to Josh Harrison and Starling Marte, but the Cubs scored six runs in their final four at bats and beat the Pirates 9-8 thanks to run scoring hits from Welington Castillo and Starlin Castro.
Tonight will be the 15th time in his career that Travis Wood has started a game against the Pirates. Wood is 5-7 in 15 games, 14 starts, with a 4.35 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP.
Pirates Career Numbers against Travis Wood
- Andrew McCutchen: 7-for-29 with one double, two home runs and seven walks
- Starling Marte: 7-for-23 with one double, one triple, two home runs and two walks
- Neil Walker: 7-for-20 with two doubles, one home run and two walks
- Pedro Alvarez: 1-for-18
- Josh Harrison: 5-for-16 with one double, one triple and one home run
- Corey Hart: 4-for-14 with three doubles
- Jordy Mercer: 5-for-11 with two doubles, two home runs and two walks
- Gregory Polanco: 1-for-6 with one walk
- Sean Rodriguez: 1-for-5
- Chris Stewart: 1-for-4
- Francisco Cervelli: 1-for-2 with one walk
- Jung Ho Kang: 1-for-2
Like Vance Worley, Jeff Locke makes his fourth start of the season tonight but has faced only two different teams. Locke’s first two outing came against the Brewers and his last time out he received a no decision after giving up four runs on seven hits with three walks and seven strikeouts to the Cubs in five innings. But the Cubs pen melted down in the sixth inning and gave up the winning run in the seventh last Thursday afternoon.
The offense did its job against Locke, ran up his pitch count and got in the Pirates’ pen in the middle innings. The Cubs could not tack on while the bullpen could not keep the Pirates off the board. The Cubs will have plenty of opportunities against Locke tonight if they make him work.
Jeff Locke is 1-1 in six career starts against the Cubs with a 4.32 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP … at Wrigley Field, Locke has two no decisions in two starts with a 5.40 ERA and a 1.60 WHIP (six runs on eight hits with eight walks and eight strikeouts in 10 innings).
Cubs Career Numbers against Jeff Locke
- Anthony Rizzo: 4-for-13 with two doubles, one home run and two walks
- Starlin Castro: 3-for-13
- Welington Castillo: 2-for-7 with two walks
- Miguel Montero: 1-for-7
- Chris Denorfia: 2-for-6
- Junior Lake: 1-for-5 with one walk
- Kris Bryant: 0-for-2 with one walk
- Dexter Fowler: 0-for-2 with one walk
- Jorge Soler: 0-for-1 with two walks
- Jonathan Herrera: 1-for-2 with one triple
- Addison Russell: 1-for-2 with one double
Let’s Talk Cubs Baseball …