Cubs Notes: Chicago looks for sweep of Brewers at Wrigley

The Chicago Cubs will look for the second series sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers Thursday afternoon behind ace left-hander Jon Lester.

Chicago (64-48) has won six-straight games for the second time in the past 30 days, and is looking to pull within a half-game of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the race for the top NL Wild Card spot, should the Bucs lose tonight.

They’ll send veteran left-hander Jon Lester to the hill, in search of his eighth win of the season. The Cubs have won 12 of 13, while Milwaukee has dropped all but six of their last 21 contests, on the complete opposite side of the spectrum.

Lester has been as hot as the Cubs have been as a team of-late, having not lost any of his previous four starts, compiling a 1.84 earned run average in the process. He also turned in seven scoreless against the Brewers at Wrigley earlier this season.

Milwaukee will look to a rookie right-hander in Tyler Cravy, with hopes of turning things around – in what has been a dismal stretch for the club, especially against the Cubs.

Cravy is looking for his first win of the season, having posted a 5.40 ERA in his first 20 innings of work. The former 17th-round pick has made a trio of starts for Milwaukee this year, and is yet to pitch into the seventh inning at the big league level.

First pitch is set for 1:20 p.m. CT at the Friendly Confines, where the Cubs rank fourth in MLB attendance this season.

Here are the starting lineups:

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