The Los Angeles Angels and Chicago Cubs have split the first two games of their three-game set, with the Cubs taking the opener and the Angels winning the second game.
The series opener between the Los Angeles Angels and Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field was a gorgeous night with the temperature in the mid-to-high 70s around first pitch, and while the Angels didn’t get anything going until the seventh inning, there were 14 hits and nine runs scored in the game.
The Angels dropped the opener 7-2 and just didn’t play a clean game. However, in conditions that should have favored Chicago during the second game of the series, Los Angeles came away with a 2-0 win on the shoulders of right-hander José Soriano.
Soriano was brilliant, pitching six scoreless innings and allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out four. Two starts, two six-inning shutout performances for the Halos’ ace.
It was a pitcher’s duel, as Cubs righty Jameson Taillon pitched 4.2 scoreless innings, and it wasn’t until a misplay by the league’s best defensive center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong in the sixth inning put the two runners who scored in scoring position with no outs that the Angels threatened to score. Catcher Logan O’Hoppe came up clutch for Los Angeles, scorching a ball to third base that got under the glove of Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman to bring in the game’s lone runs.
The Angels’ bullpen shut it down for the remainder of the game to even up the series. It was cold and the wind was howling in, which is right on brand for early-spring Wrigley weather, and the rubber match will feature the same conditions.
Angels lefty Yusei Kikuchi will toe the rubber in the series finale and is coming off an OK performance against the Houston Astros. Kikuchi threw 4.1 innings and allowed two runs on eight hits and one walk while he struck out three. The Halos won that game 6-2, but Kikuchi logged a no-decision.
He will go up against Cubs manager Craig Counsell’s new-look lefty lineup:
1. Nico Hoerner (2B)
2. Bregman (3B)
3. Ian Happ (LF)
4. Carson Kelly (C)
5. Michael Busch (1B)
6. Dansby Swanson (SS)
7. Matt Shaw (RF)
8. Crow-Armstrong (CF)
9. Miguel Amaya (DH)
Bregman is batting .350 (7-for-20) with two home runs and five RBI against Kikuchi in his career; Kelly is 0-for-6, and the rest of Chicago’s lineup hasn’t faced Kikuchi yet.
Left-hander Matthew Boyd will go for the Cubs, and he was roughed up by the Washington Nationals on Opening Day despite striking out seven batters and five in a row at one point. Boyd lasted just 3.2 innings and surrendered six runs on six hits and a walk. He and the Cubs are looking for a bounce-back outing to win the series against a different lineup from manager Kurt Suzuki:
1. Zach Neto (SS)
2. Mike Trout (CF)
3. Jo Adell (RF)
4. Jorge Soler (DH)
5. Yoan Moncada (3B)
6. Oswald Peraza (2B)
7. Jeimer Candelario (1B)
8. Travis d’Arnaud (C)
9. Bryce Teodosio (LF)
Only Neto, Adell and Teodosio have yet to get an at-bat against Boyd. Soler and Moncada have the most success against the lefty; Soler is 6-for-22 (.273 BA) with two RBI but 10 strikeouts while Moncada is 5-for-19 (.263 BA) with a homer, RBI and nine strikeouts.
First pitch is at 1:20 p.m. CT on MLB.TV and regional sports networks.