Chicago Cubs (32-24, first in the NL Central) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (17-39, fifth in the NL Central)
Pittsburgh; Thursday, 1:35 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Chicago: Alec Mills (5-4, 4.14 ERA) Pittsburgh: Chad Kuhl (1-3, 5.03 ERA)
LINE: Cubs favored by 1 1/2 runs; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Ian Happ and the Cubs will take on the Pirates Thursday.
The Pirates are 15-24 against the rest of their division. Pittsburgh has a team on-base percentage of .278, last in the National League. Colin Moran leads the lineup with a mark of .319.
The Cubs are 22-17 against the rest of their division. The Chicago pitching staff has a team ERA of 3.83, Jon Lester paces the staff with a mark of 4.40.
TOP PERFORMERS: Adam Frazier leads the Pirates with 42 hits and has 19 RBIs.
Ian Happ leads the Cubs with 49 hits and has 28 RBIs.
INJURIES: Pirates: Jameson Taillon: (elbow), Keone Kela: (forearm), Clay Holmes: (right forearm), Michael Feliz: (right forearm), Kyle Crick: (lat strain), Nick Burdi: (right elbow), Tyler Bashlor: (back), Chris Archer: (neck), Cole Tucker: (concussion), Kevin Kramer: (hip), Anthony Alford: (elbow), Kevin Newman: (knee), Phillip Evans: (broken jaw/concussion), Luke Maile: (finger).
Cubs: Brad Wieck: (hamstring), Rowan Wick: (oblique), James Norwood: (right shoulder), Tyler Chatwood: (right elbow), Ildemaro Vargas: (hamstring), Daniel Descalso: (ankle), Kris Bryant: (undisclosed).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
