Cubs vs. Cardinals: Series Thread (Games 62-64)

The third place Cardinals (31-29) roll into Chicago looking to knock the Cubs (34-27) out of first place for the second time in a week. Cubs fans meanwhile will be hoping for another round of turnabout, the Cardinals having answered an earlier sweep in the last faceoff. Since last weekend, the Cards went 1-1 against the Reds and the Cubs went 3-1 against the Angels and Rockies. While three wins is always better than one, the Cardinals should now have the advantage of rest.The Cubs recently added Craig Kimbrel to the 2019 payroll, but they'll have to muddle through for now as they await the cavalry. Meanwhile, a few position players are trending up lately. After looking fairly injured in the last series against the Cardinals, Javy went 7-16 with 2 homeruns. Unlikely leadoff hitter Kyle Schwarber as 6-17 with a dinger of his own. David Bote boosted his stats with a 4-4, 7 RBI game in which he was a triple short of the cycle. Otherwise he went an abysmal 1-12 with 4 strikeouts. Rizzo and Bryant slumped a bit over the 4-game stretch.

The Cubs will be facing the same three starting pitchers they took on last weekend. Daily match-ups below:

Game 62
CHC: LHP Cole Hamels (4-2, 3.62 ERA)
STL: RHP Miles Mikolas (4-5, 4.41 ERA)
First pitch 1:20pmCDT

Hamels pitched seven 2-hit innings allowing an unearned run against the Cards. He's been very reliant on groundballs this season, especially during stretches when he's walked a few too many.

Mikolas was good enough in his last start to earn a win against the Cubs. He went seven innings allowing one run on two walks and six hits. He didn't miss many bats, striking out three. It was good enough, but if the Cubs get a few more balls in the air, the same performance might not pass muster.

Game 63
CHC: LHP Jon Lester (4-4, 3.65 ERA)
STL: RHP Jack Flaherty (4-3, 3.76 ERA)
First pitch 6:15pmCDT

Lester earned the win against the Angels on Monday, pitching seven one-run innings and allowing only four hits and one walk. Before that, he had a string of three rough starts against the Nats, Phillies, and Astros in which he was tagged for 25 hits in 14 innings pitched.

Jack Flaherty struck out eight Cubs in five innings last weekend, but he allowed two solo homeruns and ended up with a no decision in five innings of work. Cubs hitters tagged him for three runs and a loss on May third when he walked four and struck out nine. If he can be gotten to, it's through a mix of homeruns and walks.

Game 64
CHC: RHP Kyle Hendricks (6-4, 3.14 ERA)
STL: RHP Adam Wainwright (5-5, 4.34 ERA)
First pitch 6:05pmCDT

Hendricks went seven innings to defeat the Rockies, allowing three earned runs on six hits and a walk but also striking out 10. Since his Maddux on May 3, he's looked very much like good Kyle Hendricks. He's allowed 40 walks and hits in 51.2 innings pitched going back to that game.

Based on Wainwright's eight shutout innings and two hits allowed, you'd probably think his win against the Cubs must have been pretty dominant. At the same time, he set a career high 7 walks and struck out 8. He got enough groundballs and strikeouts that, combined with some BABIP luck, he was able to work around the wildness. It's not a winning formula. He's walked 16 in his last 23 innings pitched.

Non-cable subscribers will enjoy being blacked out for the Saturday FOX broadcast and the Sunday night ESPN broadcast. Subscribers will have to suffer through the ongoing disaster that is the ESPN broadcast team.