The Chicago Cubs might have one of the better pitching rotations in baseball, but their offense is lacking. The team struggled to get runs before the break and that came back to haunted against the Atlanta Braves. The Cubs may be sitting in first place, but nothing is guaranteed if they cannot get some runs going in their favor. The Atlanta Braves took advantage of it on Friday and hope to do so again.
The Cubs are struggling as losers of their last four of five while totaling just six runs in their last four games mainly due to the team being 3 for 21 with runners in scoring position. Youth is certainly making noise for Chicago. After getting called up to help with the catcher position, Kyle Schwarber got three hits on Friday, but only one turned into a run. He is batting .423 in seven games for the team, but will not see much pitching time with David Ross playing.
Chicago will send Jon Lester to the mound who is 4-8 with a 3.59 ERA. Any success he has had has been marred by a lack of run support. He has been giving eight runs in a 10-game stretch where he is 0-6 with a 3.50 ERA. He is now aiming to get a win for the first time in over two months. In his last three starts he has gone seven innings of more, but his win-loss columns do not reflect the hard work. He will face Kelly Johnson who is batting .400 with 12 RBIs in his last 10 games against the pitcher.
The Braves will start Manny Banuelos who is 1-0 with a 0.75 ERA. However, he is likely headed to the bullpen in the future since the Braves are lacking a lot of depth due to injuries. In his first two starts he has given up one home run and six hits in 11 innings of pitching. He will try and keep the momentum going for Atlanta who snapped a five-game win streak by beating the Cubs on Friday.
