Cubs vs. Pirates MLB Pick – August 18th
It was scary in the 8th and 9th inning for the Chicago Cubs yesterday day, but the bullpen ultimately got the job done to secure a 2-0 victory. The night before, the Cubs managed to blow what seemed like a secure lead in the 9th. But an identical fate was not going to take place again to the Cubs. Tyler Chatwood and Rowan Wick combined to pitch three innings, allowing no hits and no runs. The real mistake was Tyler Chatwood devoting a stroll.
Chatwood has developed into the ideal reliever that the Cubs have within their bullpen. Joe Maddon just has not been utilizing him often turning to his traditional relievers rather than Chatwood, that has mostly been used as a starter in his profession. One of the difficulties with not turning into Chatwood more frequently is the quantity of work that he gets from the bullpen.
After items are rolling, he is usually eclipsing 3 innings about the bulge, so that takes him from this equation to the next day. Maddon has been careful to preserve his arm down the stretch to the most significant period of the regular season. But after blowing off what should happen to be a certain win on Friday night, the Cubs needed to go to Chatwood to find a few of their mojo back in the clubhouse.
Jon Lester must get some recognition in this area too. Lester was going through struggles, but seems to be back to the ideal track. The Cubs will want him down the stretch if they need to be playing in October. Lester was sharp in 6 innings, having allowed just 4 hits and no runs. The Cubs will turn into Jose Quintana tonight, even while the Pirates will proceed 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 just his fifth big league start this day and it comes from primetime on Sunday Night Baseball. The rookie is getting some valuable experience up at the big leagues with the Pirates. It has been a choppy start to his career, using a couple horrible outings plus a few that went fairly well. His best effort came in his latest outing, as he was sharp with just 1 earned run enabled in five innings against the Angels at Anaheim.
In his additional positive outing, Keller surrendered 4 hits and 2 earned runs into the Tigers in the home. The Tigers have one of the worst crimes in baseball, so that may have only been a result of playing a poor team. Keller was abysmal against the Braves and Reds in his other two excursions, allowing 12 earned runs in seven innings of work.
Luckily , he was able to bring his numbers down against the Tigers and the Angels, however, the harm was done. Keller heads into Sunday night by an ERA of both 7.94 along with 2.00 WHIP. He’d get a huge rush of confidence in case tonight demonstrates to be a success night at the workplace. I’m not so sure he gets out of this one having a stellar stat line, however. The Cubs slept afternoon and holding down them like that is going to be tough for the Pirates.
The Pirates have a date. He has been throwing extremely well lately. The Athletics and Phillies scored just 2 runs in total throughout 13 innings of play Quintana. Quintana goes into this one with the amazing 1.89 ERA and also 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 less runs in seven of their last eight appearences. The Pirates are hitting on just .202 with 3 home runs strike against Quintana at 124 showings at the plate. The Cubs have had their struggles on the road in 2019, but look for them to wrap this up road trip with a win on Sunday Night Baseball.
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