Chicago Cubs (32-23, first in the NL Central) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (16-39, fifth in the NL Central)
Pittsburgh; Wednesday, 7:05 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Chicago: Kyle Hendricks (6-4, 2.93 ERA) Pittsburgh: Trevor Williams (1-8, 6.71 ERA)
BOTTOM LINE: Pittsburgh heads into the matchup after a strong showing by Steven Brault. Brault pitched seven innings, surrendering zero runs on two hits with six strikeouts against Chicago.
The Pirates are 14-24 against the rest of their division. Pittsburgh's team on-base percentage of .278 is last in the National League. Colin Moran leads the club with an OBP of .315.
The Cubs are 22-16 in division play. The Chicago pitching staff as a whole has an ERA of 3.85. Yu Darvish leads the team with a 2.22 earned run average.
TOP PERFORMERS: Erik Gonzalez leads the Pirates with 20 RBIs and is batting .247.
Ian Happ leads the Cubs with 24 extra base hits and is slugging .522.
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.
