Chicago Cubs’ Jon Lester looks to turn things around on the road

 The Chicago Cubs have gotten the best out of Jon Lester at home. On the road, it’s a different story. He’ll look to get on track as the Cubs will face a starter in Justin Nicolino that most of them are seeing for the first time.

The Chicago Cubs will face a starter that they’ve never seen before, which hasn’t always yielded great results. Add that to the fact the Cubs scored 11 runs on Thursday and then were shutout on Friday? It’s hard to tell what the team will bring today. What they will have is Jon Lester who is looking to become only the eighth left-hander in Cubs history to reach 500 strikeouts.

The Cubs (37-36) will be without Anthony Rizzo in the leadoff spot who gets the day off to rest. Jon Jay will hit in the leadoff spot and Kris Bryant will fill in at first base for Rizzo. Lester (4-4, 3.83) will take the mound for the Cubs as he looks for his ninth quality start of the season. That might be a little bit tougher as he’s posted a 1-3 record with a 5.85 ERA in six road starts.

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For the Marlins (33-39), they’ll look for Justin Nicolino (0-1, 5.06) to improve on his last start–his first since getting off the DL–as he went just three innings against the Nationals. Nicolino allowed six runs (3 ER) on seven hits in his first appearance since returning from a bruised finger.

Lester has yet to earn a win against the Marlins as he’s 0-2 in his career in four starts. He’s logged a win against 28 other teams, with the Boston Red Sox the only team that he’s never faced.

Here are the lineups for today’s action:

First pitch is slated for 3:10 p.m. CT at Marlins Park. ABC-7 will have the television coverage while 670 The Score will carry the radio broadcast. Be sure to check back throughout the day and after the game for postgame coverage and more from Cubbies Crib!