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Cubs, Minus Cody Bellinger, Begin Series vs. Cardinals
The Chicago Cubs, having their offense in high stuff, presently face the challenge of adjusting to the deficiency of Cody Bellinger. The outfielder sustained a wrecked left center finger on Wednesday when he was hit by a pitch. With Bellinger on the 10-day harmed list, the Cubs start a four-game street series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
“He’s basically going to be closed down through the All-Star break,” Cubs chief Craig Counsell said. “And afterward when we return from the All-Star break, he’ll start the scope of-movement recovery with the finger, and afterward we’ll see where that takes us. Being some time after the All-Star break is going.”
The Cubs won five of their last six games with Bellinger in the arrangement, scoring 33 runs in the triumphs. Bellinger claims a .269 normal with a .331 on-base rate, a .410 slugging rate, nine grand slams, and 37 RBIs in 79 games this year. To supplant him on the roster, Chicago called up outfielder Alexander Canario.
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Cubs’ Recent Performance
In their first game without Bellinger, the Cubs crushed the host Baltimore Orioles 8-0 on Thursday to finish a three-game compass. Justin Steele terminated seven innings of three-hit ball, Seiya Suzuki thumped in three runs, and Dansby Swanson and Michael Busch drove in two runs each.
Chicago will open the St. Louis series with Kyle Hendricks (1-7, 7.53 Period) on the hill. The right-hander resigned just six players in his latest trip, allowing two sudden spikes in demand for four hits and two strolls in a 7-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday. Hendricks blanked the Cardinals on two hits for 4 1/3 innings during a help appearance on June 14, proceeding with a profession long pattern for Hendricks, who is 13-4 with a 2.62 Period in 27 trips against St. Louis, including 26 starts.
Cardinals’ Rotation and Recent Struggles
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol used his team’s rainout on Tuesday to reset the rotation. During a doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday, Marmol used rookie Gordon Graceffo, recalled from Triple-A Memphis as the 27th man, as his Game 2 starter. This move pushed Sonny Gray (9-5, 3.30 ERA) back to start Friday with two extra days of rest, allowing the Cardinals to use their top four starters in the Cubs series.
Gray was 9-4 with a 2.81 ERA in his first 14 starts this season. However, he struggled in his latest two outings, giving up 11 runs (eight earned) on 15 hits in 9 1/3 innings. On May 26, Gray earned a victory over the Cubs while holding them to one hit in five scoreless innings. He struck out eight batters and walked two. Gray is 5-3 with a 2.76 ERA in 12 career starts against the Cubs.
Bullpen and Off Day for Cardinals
Marmol hopes to use the team’s off day on Thursday to reset his bullpen, which scuffled on Wednesday as the Cardinals took 6-4 and 8-5 losses.
“Guys went about it the right way,” Marmol said. “I would have liked at the very least to split. Unfortunately, we didn’t. We’ll take (Thursday) off and get ready for this weekend.”
The Royals did damage in the Wednesday opener against reliever Chris Roycroft (two runs in 1 2/3 innings) and in the nightcap against relievers Matthew Liberatore (three runs, 1 2/3 innings), Ryan Fernandez (one run, 1 1/3 innings), and Andrew Kittredge (one run, one inning).
“You’re allowed a day in that bullpen where you give up a couple of runs,” Marmol said. “It doesn’t happen very often. They’ve been the reason we’ve been able to get back to where we are today.”
Conclusion
As the Cubs hope to proceed with their new accomplishment without Cody Bellinger and the Cardinals mean to recuperate from warm up area struggles, this series vows to be a cutthroat matchup. With Kyle Hendricks hoping to keep up with his strong record against St. Louis and Sonny Gray intending to get back to frame, Friday night’s down makes way for an interesting confrontation between these two NL Central adversaries.
