Cubs @ Mets: Darvish vs. Stroman (Game 131)
CHC (69-61): RHP Yu Darvish (4-6, 4.43 ERA)
NYM (67-63): RHP Marcus Stroman (7-11, 3.18 ERA)
First pitch 6:10pmCDT
The Cubs reversed course in their last series, following a sweep of the Giants with a sweep at the hands of the Nats. The Cards defeated the Brewers on the Cubs' day off and now lead the North Siders by 3 full games. The Cubs will look to pull another about face and gather some rare road wins against the Mets, who trail the Cubs in the race for the second wild card spot by only two games.
Yu Darvish is charged with starting things off against the Metropolitans. His last start took his second half trends to their extremes. He juxtaposed zero walks and eight strikeouts to four extremely damaging homeruns allowed in 5.1 innings. The narrative was his performance unraveling in the sixth after he missed a catch covering first base, but that storytelling neglects the pair of two-run homers he allowed to Longoria and Yastrzemski in the first and fifth innings. His struggles with the longball have the the constant in his 2019. He's now allowed 30 in 26 starts. He surrendered two of those homeruns in a no-decision to the Mets on June 21. McNeil and Conforto own those dingers. Cano, 9-28 with a .845 OPS against Darvish, is on the IL with a hamstring injury.
Since coming over from Toronto, Stroman is 1-0 in four starts. He hasn't been quite as sharp as usual, 25 hits and 10 walks in 19.1 innings. Lucroy is 4-5 with a double off of him. Castellanos is 2-14 with a homerun. Most other Cubs will be getting their first looks at the righty. Rizzo is likely still unavailable due to back tightness, but expect Joe to stack as many lefties as possible otherwise to take advantage of Stroman's significant platoon splits this year.
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