The surging Chicago Cubs (22-30) will look to extend their current winning streak to five games today in a matinee game at 2:20 p.m. against the National League West leading Arizona Diamondbacks (30-23). The game can be live streamed free by clicking this link, or at MLB.com with a subscription. Cubs fans can listen to the game at WGN 720 while Diamondbacks can hear the action at AZ Sports 620.
The Cubs have won four straight games, directly after a six-game losing skein, and their offense has been tremendous during this uptick. The Cubs have outscored opponents 29-10 during this stretch, and will try to continue that success against Arizona starter Wade Miley (3-4, 4.53 ERA). Outfielder Alfonso Soriano has hit well in his career against Arizona, batting .333 with a whopping 17 home runs and 38 RBI in 40 games.
Miley, the man tasked with cooling Soriano off today, has had some real struggles in 2013 following his breakout 2012. His last start was his shortest of the year, when he went 3.2 innings and allowed seven earned runs against the San Diego Padres, far from an offensive juggernaut.
"It hurt a little bit but it goes away," said Miley. "I just didn't make pitches again. It wasn't like I was throwing good and the comebacker happened (then) I threw bad. I was just very inconsistent through and through."
Opposing Miley on the mound will be Matt Garza (0-0, 4.00 ERA) making his third start of the season. After a solid 2013 debut in which he went five scoreless innings with five strikeouts and three walks, Garza faltered his last time out. On May 26th against the Cincinnati Reds, Garza lasted just four innings, giving up four runs, walking four and striking out seven. He also needed 92 pitches to get through the four innings of work.
Assessing Garza's performance, Cubs manager Dal Sveum said, "There was no command of anything. Once again, when he was in the strike zone, it was foul ball after foul ball, and he got his pitch count up and got tired there."
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