Cubs vs. Pirates MLB Pick – August 18th
It was scary in the 8th and 9th inning for the Chicago Cubs yesterday day, however, the bullpen ultimately got the work done to secure a 2-0 victory. The night before, the Cubs managed to dismiss what seemed like a secure lead in the 9th. However, an identical fate wasn’t going to occur again to the Cubs. Rowan Wick and tyler Chatwood combined to pitch three perfect innings, allowing no runs and no hits. The mistake was Tyler Chatwood issuing a walk.
Chatwood has evolved into the best reliever that the Cubs have in their bullpen. Joe Maddon simply has not been using him often turning to his conventional relievers rather than Chatwood, who has primarily been used as a rookie in his profession. One of the problems with not turning to Chatwood more frequently is the amount of work he gets from the bullpen.
After things are rolling, he is normally eclipsing 3 innings about the bump, so that chooses him from this equation to get the next moment. Maddon has been careful to preserve his arm down the stretch to the most important period of the regular season. But after blowing off what should have been a certain win on Friday night, the Cubs needed to go to Chatwood to find some of their mojo back from the clubhouse.
Jon Lester ought to find some recognition in this spot. Lester was going through struggles, but seems to be back to the ideal path. The Cubs are going to want 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 into Jose Quintana tonight, even although the Pirates will proceed with Mitch Keller on Sunday Night Baseball. Head below for our free Cubs vs. Pirates select.
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Mitch Keller will be making only his fifth significant league start this evening and it comes from primetime on Sunday Night Baseball. The newcomer is getting some invaluable experience upward in the big leagues with the Pirates. It’s been a choppy start to his career, using a couple horrible outings plus a couple that went fairly well. His very best effort came from his latest outing, as he had been sharp with just 1 earned run allowed in 5 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 only been a result of playing a terrible team. Keller was abysmal against the Braves and Reds in his other two outings, letting 12 earned runs in 7 innings of work.
Luckily he managed to bring his numbers down from the Tigers and the Angels, however, the harm was done. Keller heads into Sunday night with an ERA of 7.94 and 2.00 WHIP. He would get a massive rush of assurance if tonight demonstrates to be a success nighttime in the office. I’m not so sure he gets out of the one using a leading stat line, though. The Cubs slept yesterday afternoon and holding them down like that again is going to be tough to the Pirates.
The Pirates have a date using Quintana tonight in the dish. He’s been pitching extremely well lately. The Athletics and Phillies scored just 2 runs in total throughout 13 innings of play against Quintana. Quintana goes to this one with the amazing 1.89 ERA and 0.79 WHIP in his past three outings.
It has also been five trips since he has allowed more than 3 runs in a start and 3 or less runs in seven of their last eight appearences. The Pirates are hitting just .202 with 3 home runs hit from Quintana at 124 showings in the plate. The Cubs have had their own battles 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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