Despite both teams being well below .500 since the beginning of May, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs are both in the thick of the National League Central race and looking for a win in Wednesday’s series finale in Pittsburgh.
Chicago Cubs (-115, 8.5) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
The Cubs send Kyle Hendricks to the mound for his sixth start of the season and while he has a 2.86 ERA with three earned runs or fewer allowed in every start this season, he appears to be due for regression.
Hendricks has always been a pitch to contact player and his 5.1 strikeouts per nine innings and yet opponents have a .217 batting average with just one home run in 28 1/3 innings, all numbers that are drastically different from his career averages.
Supporting Hendricks is a Cubs offense has struggled, ranking 27th in the league in runs per game with four runs per game since May 1 and are without team leader in home runs, Patrick Wisdom, due to injury.
Countering Hendricks is Rich Hill, who at 43-years old is the oldest active starting pitcher in the league, who has posted a 2.89 ERA in his three starts in the month of June and even at his advanced age is getting 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings.
While both teams support their pitchers with lackluster bullpens with both entering Tuesday ranked 23rd and 24th in the league in ERA, the Pirates have more overall reliable options.
With David Bednar, Jose Hernandez, Dauri Moreta, and Yohan Ramirez all having made at least 19 appearances all four carrying an ERA of 3.00 or lower, it gives the Pirates the needed backend support to get the win on Wednesday.
The Play: Pirates -105
