Cubs vs. Pirates MLB Pick – August 18th
It was scary in the 8th and 9th inning for the Chicago Cubs yesterday afternoon, however, the bullpen ultimately got the job completed to secure a 2-0 victory. The night before, the Cubs managed to dismiss what seemed like a safe lead in the 9th. But an identical fate wasn’t likely to take place again for the Cubs. Rowan Wick and tyler Chatwood combined to pitch three perfect innings, allowing no runs and no hits. The only mistake was Tyler Chatwood devoting a walk.
Chatwood has developed in the best reliever that the Cubs have within their bullpen. Joe Maddon just hasn’t been utilizing him enough, often turning to his traditional relievers instead of Chatwood, that has mostly been employed as a rookie in his career. Among the problems with not turning to Chatwood more often is the quantity of work that he gets out of the bullpen.
After things are rolling, he is generally eclipsing 3 innings about the bump, so that chooses him from this equation to get the following day. Maddon is being careful to preserve his arm down the stretch for the most significant period of their normal season. But after blowing off what should have been a certain win on Friday night, the Cubs needed to go to Chatwood to get some of their mojo back from the clubhouse.
Jon Lester must get some recognition in this spot. Lester was going through struggles, but seems to be back to the ideal track. The Cubs are going to need him down the stretch if they want to be playing in October. Lester was sharp in 6 innings, having allowed just 4 hits and no runs. The Cubs will turn to Jose Quintana tonight, while the Pirates will go with Mitch Keller on Sunday Night Baseball. Head below to our free Cubs vs. Pirates select.
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Mitch Keller will be making only his fifth big league start this evening and it comes from primetime on Sunday Night Baseball. The rookie is getting some valuable experience up in the big leagues with the Pirates. It’s been a choppy start to his career, using a couple of horrible outings and a few that went fairly well. His best effort came in his most recent outing, since he had been sharp with only 1 earned run allowed in five innings against the Angels at Anaheim.
In his other favorable excursion, Keller surrendered 4 hits and two earned runs to 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 excursions, permitting 12 earned runs in seven innings of work.
Luckily he managed to bring his numbers down from the Tigers and the Angels, but the harm was done. Keller heads into Sunday night by an ERA of 7.94 and 2.00 WHIP. He would get a enormous rush of confidence if tonight demonstrates to be a victory nighttime in the office. I’m not so certain that he gets out of this one with a stellar stat line, though. The Cubs slept afternoon and holding down them like that is going to be tough for the Pirates.
The Pirates get a date using Quintana tonight in the dish. He has been throwing extremely well recently. The Athletics and Phillies scored just two runs in total throughout 13 innings of play against Quintana. Quintana goes into this one with an impressive 1.89 ERA and 0.79 WHIP in his previous three outings.
It’s been five trips since he has allowed more than 3 runs in a beginning and 3 or less runs in seven of the past eight appearences. The Pirates are hitting on just .202 with 3 home runs strike from Quintana from 124 showings at the plate. The Cubs have had their own 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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