The Chicago Cubs have found their rhythm at the plate.
Chicago will try to keep it up when it welcomes the Detroit Tigers for a three-game series beginning Monday night. The Cubs are coming off back-to-back wins over the Minnesota Twins, including a 10-1 rout on Sunday afternoon.
“Top to bottom, we’re just grinding out at-bats,” Cubs first baseman Michael Busch said. “We’re making that pitcher have his stuff for everybody in that lineup. I think it just makes his job tougher. It gets runners on base, it gets runners in scoring position.”
Detroit will try to spoil the Cubs’ momentum.
The Tigers won their first two games coming out of the All-Star break, but they fell short 3-2 against the host Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon. Kevin McGonigle and Riley Greene each hit solo home runs in the loss for Detroit.
Tigers catcher Jake Rogers said he and his teammates felt good as they prepared to travel to Chicago.
“We came away with a series win,” Rogers said. “We’re happy.
“Obviously, we want to sweep there, and (it) could have been a big win, but it wasn’t our best hitting performance. They did a really good job of keeping us off the bases. And when they did, they got out of it.
“We’re playing winning ball right now. And obviously, it wasn’t a win there. And we wanted it, needed it, but we moved on.”
Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty (3-8, 4.48 ERA) is set to start the series opener. He is two strikeouts shy of reaching 100 on the season.
The 30-year-old Flaherty is going for his third victory in as many starts. In his most recent outing on July 10, he got the win after limiting the visiting Philadelphia Phillies to two runs on two hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out six.
In 18 career games (16 starts) against the Cubs, Flaherty is 4-4 with a 3.38 ERA. He has walked 37 and struck out 89 in 74 2/3 innings.
Chicago is set to counter with right-hander Jameson Taillon (2-5, 5.19), who is expected to be activated from the injured list after sitting out since early June because of a left hamstring strain. Taillon, who will make his 14th start of the season, has earned 84 career victories in 237 games.
Taillon, 34, has started against the Tigers five times in his career. He is 2-2 with a 5.81 ERA in those outings, and he has walked seven and struck out 27 in 26 1/3 innings.
Nico Hoerner will look to stay hot as the Cubs begin their second series after the break. The second baseman went 2-for-5 with a triple and four RBIs on Sunday afternoon, and he had eight hits in 13 at-bats during the series.
On the season, Hoerner is hitting .245 with four homers and 43 RBIs in 97 games.
The Cubs are 29-20 at home this season. The Tigers are 19-30 on the road.
–Field Level Media
