The Cubs won a game and now face Paul Skenes, the reigning Cy Young winner, for the first time this season. The Cubs’ offense recently produced far more runs than in the prior six games combined, and they need to repeat that level of scoring more regularly. Colin Rea is seeking a rebound after recent struggles, including a 6.30 ERA over his last six starts and multiple homers and walks. The lineup features Pete Crow-Armstrong, Nico Hoerner, Michael Busch, Alex Bregman, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Moisés Ballesteros as DH, Miguel Amaya catching, and Dansby Swanson at short. Skenes has been less dominant recently, allowing four earned runs over five innings in one start and five earned runs in the previous one, with low strikeout totals and possible changes in fastball velocity or arm angle affecting his changeup depth.
"Congratulations, Cubs, you finally won another game. As a reward, you get to face Paul Skenes. But you've got to beat the best to be the best, and there's a whole lot of positive correction coming due for Craig Counsell 's team. We saw that at work last night as they scored more runs in one game than they had in the previous six combined. Now they just need to keep doing that more than once every two weeks or so."
"Colin Rea needs a get-right game of his own after scuffling for a little while now. Though he only gave up three runs last week against the Astros, he allowed two homers and walked three batters. Over his last six starts, Rea has a 6.30 ERA with 37 hits allowed in 30 innings. He doesn't need to be an ace by any stretch, but he needs to keep his team in the game."
"As mentioned, they're facing Skenes for the first time this season. The reigning Cy Young winner hasn't been nearly as dominant this season, and he's coming off a rough start that saw him give up four earned runs on nine hits over just five innings. Skenes only struck out two batters in that one as well, so maybe he's dealing with a rut of his own."
"The lack of consistency could stem from a number of different sources, whether it's his fastball velocity being down a tick or his arm angle being up by two degrees. That latter might not seem like much, but it could be contributing to the lack of depth in his changeup. Though the offspeed pitch with the same velocity and arm-side movement, Skenes is getti"
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