Cubs vs. Pirates MLB Pick – August 18th
It was scary in the 8th and 9th inning for the Chicago Cubs yesterday afternoon, but the bullpen finally got the work completed to secure a 2-0 success. The night before, the Cubs managed to blow what looked like a secure lead in the 9th. But an identical fate wasn’t going to take place again to the Cubs. Rowan Wick and tyler Chatwood combined to pitch three perfect innings, allowing no runs and no hits. The real mistake was Tyler Chatwood issuing a stroll.
Chatwood has evolved that the Cubs have within their bullpen. Joe Maddon only hasn’t been utilizing him enough, often turning to his traditional relievers instead of Chatwood, who has mostly been employed as a rookie in his career. One of the difficulties with not turning to Chatwood more often is the total amount of work that he gets from the bullpen.
When items are rolling, he’s generally eclipsing 3 innings on the bulge, so that chooses him out of the equation to the next moment. Maddon has been careful to maintain his arm down the stretch for the most crucial period of the normal season. But after blowing off what should have been a sure win on Friday night, the Cubs had to visit Chatwood to find a few of their mojo back in the clubhouse.
Jon Lester should get some recognition in this area. Lester was going through struggles, but appears to be back on the perfect path. The Cubs will need him down the stretch if they want to be playing in October. Lester was eloquent in 6 innings, having allowed just 4 hits and no runs. The Cubs will turn into Jose Quintana tonight, while the Pirates will go with Mitch Keller on Sunday Night Baseball. Head below to our free Cubs vs. Pirates pick.
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Mitch Keller will probably be making just his fifth important league start this evening and it comes from primetime on Sunday Night Baseball. The newcomer is getting some invaluable experience up in the big leagues with the Pirates. It has been a choppy start to his career, with a couple of horrible outings and a couple that went fairly well. His best effort came in his latest outing, since he was sharp with only 1 earned run enabled in 5 innings against the Angels at Anaheim.
In his other positive outing, Keller surrendered 4 hits and two earned runs into the Tigers in the home. The Tigers have one of the worst crimes in baseball, so that could have just been a result of playing a bad team. Keller was abysmal from the Braves and Reds in his other two outings, letting 12 earned runs in 7 innings of work.
Luckily , he managed to bring down his numbers from the Tigers and the Angels, however, the harm was done. Keller heads into Sunday night with an ERA of both 7.94 and 2.00 WHIP. He would find a huge rush of confidence in case tonight demonstrates to be a victory nighttime at the office. I’m not so certain that he gets out of this one having a stellar stat line, however. The Cubs slept yesterday afternoon and holding down them like that is going to be tough for the Pirates.
The Pirates get a date with Quintana tonight at the dish. He has been pitching extremely well recently. The Athletics and Phillies scored only two runs in complete across 13 innings of play Quintana. Quintana goes to this one with an impressive 1.89 ERA and 0.79 WHIP in his past three outings.
It has been five trips since he has allowed more than 3 runs at a beginning and 3 or less runs in seven of his last eight appearences. The Pirates are hitting on just .202 with 3 home runs strike from Quintana at 124 showings in the plate. The Cubs have had their battles on the street in 2019, but look for them to wrap up this road trip with a win on Sunday Night Baseball.
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