The Cubs begin a three-game series Friday night (7:40pm CDT) at Coors Field against the Rockies and left-hander Tyler Anderson. And Joe Maddon is starting a bunch of right-handers and Anthony Rizzo with the southpaw on the hill for Walt Weiss.
Jorge Soler (RF) and Matt Szczur (LF) are starting in the outfield with Dexter Fowler in center field. Jason Heyward is not starting for the second straight game. Ben Zobrist is also getting the night off.
Willson Contreras is catching Kyle Hendricks.
Cubs batting order: Dexter Fowler CF, Kris Bryant 3B, Anthony Rizzo 1B, Jorge Soler RF, Addison Russell SS, Matt Szczur LF, Willson Contreras C, Javier Baez 2B, Kyle Hendricks P
An infield of Rizzo, Baez, Russell and Bryant will back Hendricks and must make every play behind him. The Rockies do not need any help scoring runs.
Maddon giving Heyward another day off makes sense with the way Anderson has pitched against lefties in the big leagues.
Tyler Anderson has held left-handers in check at the Major League level this season. Lefties have only one extra base hit in 10 games, a double, and have put together a .211/.296/.239 line with a .536 OPS. Right-handers have a .768 OPS with 20 extra basehits (11 doubles, two triples, seven home runs) while hitting .276/.309/.459.
Anderson has pitched better in eight games at Coors Field (4-1, 3.04 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 52 hits, 18 runs, 17 earned, 13 walks, 46 strikeouts, four home runs, 50 1/3 innings) than in four games on the road (0-3, 4.35 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 17 hits, 10 runs, four walks, 13 strikeouts, three home runs, 20 2/3 innings).
Joe Maddon will begin the game with David Ross, Miguel Montero, Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist.