Chicago Cubs (31-22, first in the NL Central) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (15-38, fifth in the NL Central)
Pittsburgh; Monday, 7:05 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Chicago: Jon Lester (2-2, 4.91 ERA) Pittsburgh: JT Brubaker (1-2, 4.79 ERA)
BOTTOM LINE: Pittsburgh enters the matchup as losers of their last four games.
The Pirates are 13-23 against NL Central opponents. Pittsburgh has hit 46 home runs this season, the lowest total in the majors. Colin Moran leads the club with eight, averaging one every 19.2 at-bats.
The Cubs are 21-15 against the rest of their division. The Chicago pitching staff as a whole has an ERA of 3.94. Yu Darvish leads the team with a 2.22 earned run average.
TOP PERFORMERS: Moran leads the Pirates with eight home runs and has 18 RBIs.
Ian Happ leads the Cubs with 12 home runs home runs and is slugging .539.
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), Jose Quintana: (left lat), James Norwood: (right shoulder), Tyler Chatwood: (right elbow), Daniel Descalso: (ankle).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
