After hosting the St. Louis Cardinals (18-6) on Opening Night, the Chicago Cubs (13-10) will head down to Busch Stadium to open a four-game set against their division rivals on Monday night at 8:00 p.m. ET.
This time Chicago won't have to worry about facing Cardinals' ace Adam Wainwright, who will miss the rest of the season with a torn Achilles tendon. But they'll have to face young right-hander Carlos Martinez tonight and he's been just as effective as any starter in the MLB up until this point.
The 23-year-old Martinez is 3-0 with a 1.73 ERA, 1.038 WHIP and 24 strikeouts in five games (four starts) in 2015. His one relief appearance this year came against the Cubs, during which he tossed one scoreless inning. He'll face them as a starter tonight as he looks to continue he three-game winning streak following outings against the Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies.
St. Louis is on a six-game winning streak after taking three out of four from the Phillies last week and sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates over the weekend. Manager Mike Matheny's club has yet to lose a series this season thanks to an MLB-leading 2.21 ERA.
However, Chicago has perhaps been the biggest surprise in the league about a month into the season. Manager Joe Maddon's Cubs have a two-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds for second place in the NL Central division as they work to keep up with the Cardinals, who lead them by 4.5 games.
Left-hander Travis Wood (2-1 with a 3.04 ERA and 1.056 WHIP) will take the mound for the Cubs tonight in his fifth start of the season. The 28-year-old has spent his entire six-year career in the NL Central (two seasons with Cincinnati and four with Chicago), so he's had much exposure to the Cardinals' lineup. He'll need some help from his offense, though, because he's just 5-6 with a 5.18 ERA and 1.477 WHIP in 16 career starts against St. Louis.
Unfortunately for Wood, the Cubs' offense has struggled over the past four games, notching only six runs over that span and, according to ESPN, struck out a league-high 18 times against the Brewers on Saturday. As a result, they dropped to 22nd in the MLB in runs scored (94), but managed to maintain their top-10 ERA (3.66).
St. Louis is facing a similar dearth of offensive production from the weekend, having scored only seven runs in three games against the Pirates. The only difference was that the Cardinals managed to squeak out three extra-inning victories over their division rivals while the Cubs dropped two out of three to the MLB-worst Brewers.
However, tonight will be a different story as the Cubs look to get back on track and seek further revenge on the Cardinals, who spoiled Chicago's season-opener at Wrigley Field back on Apr. 5. St. Louis sits atop the MLB with the best record and hopes to continue its undefeated series winning streak this season.
Check out the live stream for the Cardinals/Cubs matchup here as well as the live radio broadcast here (if you're a Cardinals fan) or here (if you're a Cubs fan).
