Cubs at Pirates — 4/10/21

Chicago Cubs (4-3) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (1-6) - Saturday, April 10 @ 6:35 p.m.

Stadium: PNC Park, Pittsburgh

TV: AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh

Radio: 93.7 The Fan

SB Nation Tigers site: Bleed Cubbie Blue

Starting Pitchers

Cubs: Zach Davies - RHP - (0-0) – 3.18 ERA - 5 total Ks

Pirates: Mitch Keller - RHP - (0-1) – 9.00 ERA – 4 total Ks

Probable Starting Lineups (subject to last-minute changes)

Cubs

1. Ian Happ – CF

2. Willson Contreras – C

3 Anthony Rizzo – 1B

4. Kris Bryant – 3B

5. Joc Pederson – LF

6. Javier Baez – SS

7. Jason Heyward – RF

8. David Bote – 2B

9. Zach Davies – P

Pirates

1. Adam Frazier– 2B

2. Phillip Evans – 3B

3. Bryan Reynolds – LF

4. Colin Moran – 1B

5. Erik Gonzalez – SS

6. Gregory Polanco – RF

7. Jacob Stallings – C

8. Anthony Alford – CF

9. Mitch Keller – P

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The Pirates will look to get back in the win column after dropping their last six starts. Starter Mitch Keller is coming off a shaky first start of the season Sunday, as he went just three innings in a loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Keller, one of the Bucs’ bright hopes for the future, gave up three runs, four walks and two hits as he was unable to find the strike zone consistently. In his brief career, Keller hasn’t had any success against the Cubs, as he brings a career 7.20 ERA against Chicago in four previous starts.

The Pirates will be getting their second look at Zach Davies, who held them to two runs over 5 2/3 innings while walking three and striking out five Sunday. Of the first 20 Pirates who came to the plate that day, just one managed a hit.

Davies isn’t the only hurler to tame the Pirates thus far; they bring a .202 team batting average and a .623 OPS into this evening’s matchup. Of all MLB teams with at least five starts, the Pirates are dead last in runs scored with 19. They’ve managed just 46 hits.

Phillip Evans has been one of the few bright spots offensively, as he’s hitting at a .368 clip in 19 at-bats. Colin Moran is at .280 but he’s struck out in nearly half of his 25 at-bats. Adam Frazier and Kevin Newman, both of whom were red-hot in Grapefruit League play, have yet to get untracked, as they are hitting just .227 and .185, respectively.

Defensively, the Pirates have committed seven errors in seven games and rank 29^th among 30 teams in terms of team fielding percentage at .970, just ahead of the Texas Rangers at .969