Dan Haren makes his Cubs debut tonight vs the Pirates

With the Chicago Cubs riding a six-game winning streak entering tonight’s contest, recently acquired right-hander, Dan Haren will make his debut for this third-place club against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Haren, 34, was acquired by Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer on the final day of the non-waiver trade deadline in exchange for Ivan Pineyro and Elliott Soto from the Miami Marlins. It wasn’t that big of a splash, but they did, however, manage to go out and find themselves another reliever to help them out in the bullpen in another deal with the Baltimore Orioles.

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Last night’s winner, Jake Arrieta, came to Chicago (58-47) along with Pedro Strop from Baltimore and both have done great thus far. Arrieta more than Strop, but it’s still worked out well for the North Siders.

Now, Haren (7-7, 3.42 ERA) has played against both the Cubs and Cardinals this season except for the Pirates (61-44) and Milwaukee Brewers – which should come sometime later on this year.

In his previous outing while hosting the Washington Nationals, Haren held them to one earned run on four hits including a home run while issuing two walks and four strikeouts across six innings of work. While the Cubs carry a winning streak of their own, he’s looking to shake his brief two-game skid that dates back to July 24.

Taking the mound opposite Haren will be 27-year-old southpaw, Jeff Locke. Locke (6-6, 4.21 ERA) opened up the 2015 campaign with seven consecutive starts against the N.L. Central in which three came against tonight’s visiting team.

The Cubs have been able to claim two out of those three starts. In fact, the last time Locke squared off against Joe Maddon‘s club was the same day outfielder Gregory Polanco tripped out in right field when attempting to field a routine play which turned out to be a walk-off single courtesy of Matt Szczur.

That win extended Chicago’s winning streak to five games, so hopefully they’re able to keep the win train going.

First pitch is slated for 6:05 p.m. central time and will air live on CSN, WBBM 780.

Here’s a look at tonight’s starting lineup’s:

Next: Cubs place Soriano on DL, Richard re-signs

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