Both the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago Cubs are in the battle for National League wild-card positioning as they prepare to square off at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Saturday night.
This marks the middle contest of a three-game series between the two clubs, with the Cubs looking to even the score following Friday’s 5-2 loss. That dropped Chicago five games under .500 at 47-52, while Arizona comes in with a 50-48 record.
There is not a whole lot to like about the Cubs, who were seven games over .500 as recently as May 13 only to go 23-35 since that date. They lost two of their last three prior to the all-star break at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals and their second-half opener did nothing to get them back on track.
Now the task of finding the win column belongs to veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks, who inspires little to no confidence right now.
Despite befuddling St. Louis with seven innings of shutout baseball last Friday, Hendricks is 2-7 this season with a horrendous 6.78 ERA and 1.51 WHIP to go along with a poor 50-21 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 70.1 innings.
The 34-year-old faced Arizona on April 16 and surrendered seven runs on two homers in 4.1 innings of work.
The Diamondbacks know they can hit Hendricks, plus they have to be feeling good about their general productivity at the plate these days. They have won five of their last six contests and during this stretch they have scored at least five runs on five occasions.
In the same span Ketel Marte has delivered four multi-hit performances – including one of three-hit variety (featuring a homer and four RBIs) this past Sunday against Toronto.
On the mound Arizona will counter with Zac Gallen, who is 6-5 with a decent 3.87 ERA and a 76-to-21 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 76.2 innings.
From both a hitting and pitching standpoint, the Diamondbacks should like their chances of making it two straight wins to begin this season – and again by multiple runs.
Although Gallen should be able to give his team a good chance to win, it’s not like he is in dominant form. The right-hander missed almost all of June because of a hamstring injury and has struggled since his return (13 earned runs in 19.0 innings).
He now faces a Chicago lineup that has crossed the plate at least five times in seven of its past 12 contests.
As mentioned earlier, Hendricks is probably in line for a rough day at the office. He is struggling in 2024 and Arizona tagged him for seven runs earlier this year.
Eugenio Suarez and Joc Pederson have each homered twice off Hendricks in their careers to go along with a combined seven doubles.
Don’t be surprised if that duo leads the charge in what could develop into a high-scoring affair.
Suarez has a lot of familiarity with Hendricks, going 12-for-48 (.250 average) throughout his career in this matchup with two home runs and four doubles.
Moreover, the veteran third baseman has heated up this season following a slow start.
Suarez is batting .313 in July with four homers, four doubles, 16 RBIs and 10 runs scored.
In the past three games alone, he has racked up four hits, one HR, four RBIs and three runs scored. You have to like Suarez’s chances of staying hot on Saturday at the expense of Hendricks and the Cubs.
Read more betting picks and predictions for MLB on site.
Arizona Diamondbacks | -150 |
Chicago Cubs | +125 |
Run Line | Arizona -1.5 |
Total | O/U 8.0 |
Christian Walker (ARI Diamondbacks) | +320 |
Joc Pederson (ARI Diamondbacks) | +450 |
Eugenio Suarez (ARI Diamondbacks) | +475 |
Christopher Morel (CHI Cubs) | +425 |
Seiya Suzuki (CHI Cubs) | +475 |
Dansby Swanson (CHI Cubs) | +550 |
Read the latest MLB news on site.
This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.