Chicago Cubs look to bounce back vs. Phillies with Lester on the mound

 The Chicago Cubs simply looked terrible last night. That’s all I can say about that. So they’ll try to leave that behind and turn things around against the Phillies. Jon Lester will take the hill for the Cubs coming off of a start in which he allowed five runs over in a loss.

The rain for the Chicago Cubs wasn’t as lucky for them last night. But that’s fine. There’s still a lot of baseball yet to be played this season. And with Jon Lester taking the mound at home, things look good for the Cubs as they take on a hot Jeremy Hellickson of the Phillies.

The Cubs (13-12) are still in first, but only by percentage points over the Brewers. They’ll look for Lester (0-1, 3.68) to stay hot at home where he’s only allowed one earned run over 13 innings for the Cubs. Kyle Schwarber remains in the leadoff spot, although his numbers haven’t been encouraging so far. He’s batting just .193, with an on-base of just .322. He’s seeing a lot of pitches but hasn’t had the results to show for it.

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For the Phillies (12-12), they’ll look for their hottest pitcher to help get them their second consecutive win on the road. Hellickson accepted a $17 million QO, and he’s been worth every penny so far. He’s 4-0 and has posted a 1.80 ERA with a 0.833 WHIP. The Cubs have seen little of Hellickson, which doesn’t always bode well for the Cubs.

The Phils’ Tommy Joseph hit a three-run home run–after being stuck in an offensive funk–to help propel the Phillies to an early 7-0 lead. The Cubs could only scratch across two runs on the evening but did get two hits from a struggling Javier Baez. His solo home run in the fifth put the Cubs on the board, and he later scored on a Matt Szczur sacrifice fly.

Here are the lineups for tonight’s matchup:

The rain that plagued the Cubs yesterday shouldn’t be an issue during tonight’s game. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. CT. CSN-C will have the television coverage while 670 The Score will have the radio broadcast. Check back throughout the night for more Cubs news and notes.