Gamethread: Baby Bucs look for 5th straight, extend Cubs skid

On Roberto Clemente/Latino Heritage Night, Jordan Luplow and his Pittsburgh Pirates look for their 5th straight win as they face a Cubs team that has lost three in a row and is suddenly looking in the rear view mirror at both the Cardinals and Brewers, each four games behind. Meanwhile, the Pirates, who arguably have tossed in the towel by allowing several rookies into the starting lineup, are giving fans a tiny glimmering of hope as they stand seven and a half games out of the wild card.

Gerrit Cole (11-9, 4.11; 1-1, 1.38 vs Cubs) will make his 30th start of the season. He will be faced by the lefty “La Cantina” Jose Quintana (9-11, 4.49; 5-3, 4.50 with Cubs), making his 2nd start vs the Pirates.

The Cubs will send up only Kris Bryant and Javy Baez from the right side of the plate vs Cole, while the Pirates go with all right handed batters vs the lefty Quintana, including Jose Osuna and Sean Rodriguez subbing for the switch-hitters Josh Bell and Max Moroff.

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CUBS

1 L Jon Jay, LF

2 L Tommy LaStella, 2B

3 R Kris Bryant, 3B

4 L Anthony Rizzo, 1B

5 S Ian Happ, CF

6 L Alex Avila, C

7 L Jason Heyward, RF

8 R Javy Baez, SS

9 R Jose Quintana, LHP

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PIRATES

1 R Starling Marte, LF

2 R Jordan Luplow, RF

3 R Andrew McCutchen, CF

4 R David Freese, 3B

5 R Jose Osuna, 1B

6 R Sean Rodriguez, 2B

7 R Jordy Mercer, SS

8 R Chris Stewart, C

9 R Gerrit Cole, RHP