Pittsburgh Pirates (48-86, fifth in the NL Central) vs. Chicago Cubs (60-75, fourth in the NL Central)
Chicago; Friday, 2:20 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Pirates: Steven Brault (0-3, 4.57 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 14 strikeouts) Cubs: Alec Mills (6-6, 4.22 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 65 strikeouts)
LINE: Cubs -133, Pirates +116; over/under is even
BOTTOM LINE: The Pittsburgh Pirates head to face the Chicago Cubs on Friday.
The Cubs are 34-32 on their home turf. Chicago is averaging four RBIs per game this season. Ian Happ leads the team with 44 total runs batted in.
The Pirates are 20-48 on the road. Pittsburgh is slugging .359 as a unit. Bryan Reynolds leads the team with a slugging percentage of .510.
The Cubs won the last meeting 6-5. Codi Heuer recorded his sixth victory and Rafael Ortega went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs for Chicago. Sam Howard took his third loss for Pittsburgh.
TOP PERFORMERS: Patrick Wisdom leads the Cubs with 34 extra base hits and is batting .251.
Reynolds leads the Pirates with 21 home runs and is batting .297.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cubs: 6-4, .243 batting average, 5.66 ERA, outscored by nine runs
Pirates: 4-6, .233 batting average, 5.34 ERA, outscored by 15 runs
INJURIES: Cubs: Brad Wieck: (heart), Kohl Stewart: (elbow), Jonathan Holder: (shoulder), Nick Madrigal: (hamstring), Nico Hoerner: (oblique), David Bote: (ankle), Jose Lobaton: (shoulder), P.J. Higgins: (forearm), Willson Contreras: (knee).
Pirates: Jose Soriano: (elbow), Dillon Peters: (back), Chase De Jong: (knee), Blake Cederlind: (elbow), Trevor Cahill: (calf), JT Brubaker: (thumb), Ke'Bryan Hayes: (hand), Michael Chavis: (elbow).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
