The teams currently at the top and bottom of the National League Central meet when the frontrunning Chicago Cubs travel to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series.
Although the Cubs are in first place and the Pirates are in last, both teams are coming off back-to-back losses.
Pittsburgh split its recent six-game road trip, winning two of three against the Los Angeles Angels before losing two of three over the weekend against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Cubs had won five of six, including a two-game sweep of the Dodgers and a win over Philadelphia before dropping two in a row over the weekend at home against the Phillies.
Neither team had announced their pitching plans for the series as of Monday afternoon. Should the Cubs and Pirates keep their respective pitching rotations in the same order, the game would feature a matchup of a pair of left-handers with the Pirates’ Andrew Heaney (2-1, 1.72 ERA) opposing the Cubs’ Shota Imanaga (2-1, 3.18).
Heaney would enter the matchup not having allowed a run in his past 16 1/3 innings. He entered the week ranked fourth in ERA among NL pitchers and fourth in the majors in hits allowed per nine innings (5.2).
He is coming off his best start of the season when he gave up one hit over six shutout innings, struck out nine and walked none last Wednesday to help the Pirates secure a 3-0 win over his former club, the Angels.
Heaney’s stellar start has given the Pirates depth in their rotation behind ace Paul Skenes as he has continued to mix and locate his pitches well.
“Fastball was in a good spot for the most part and I felt really good with some of the sinkers, too,” Heaney said after his last outing. “Changeup was good. … and then (I) flipped a couple curveballs in there.”
Heaney is 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA in one career start against the Cubs, going back to when he pitched for the Angels in 2016. He will attempt to stifle one of the hottest lineups in the majors.
The Cubs lead the majors in hits (265), runs (172) and RBI (169). They are hitting to a slash line of .260/.340/.444 as a team entering Tuesday’s game.
Kyle Tucker (.289/.397/.579, seven HR, 25 RBIs) leads the team in each of those categories. Pete Crow-Armstrong (.286/.328/.527, five HR, 19 RBIs) and Seiya Suzuki (.280/.348/.530, six HR, 23 RBI) have added length to Chicago’s batting order.
Those bats saved Imanaga from taking a loss in his most recent start last Tuesday, which ended with the Cubs edging the Dodgers 11-10 in 10 innings. Imanaga allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks and struck out six over 5 2/3 innings.
Three of those runs originally were unearned until a scoring change after the game. A Gage Workman fielding error just before Imanaga allowed a three-run homer to Tommy Edman was changed to award a hit for Shohei Ohtani. Imanaga allowed a season-high three home runs.
“It was quite a discouraging start,” Imanaga said. “I’m very grateful to my teammates for giving me courage as I wouldn’t have lasted five innings without their run support.”
Imanaga is 1-0 and has not allowed a run and only four hits with 14 strikeouts over 14 innings in two career starts against the Pirates.
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