Chicago Cubs vs Pittsburgh Pirates

Chicago got a masterful pitching performance from Shota Imanaga, who pitched seven scoreless innings, and the Cubs beat the Pirates 1-0 on Saturday to improve to 14-8 at home. They have an opportunity for another win today as Jameson Taillon is on the mound and he is 3-1 with a 1.61 ERA. Taillon is looking to bounce back from his worst performance of the season as he lost 7-0 at Atlanta on Tuesday. He is 3-0 with a 1.08 ERA and a .194 opponent batting average at home and he owns a 0.82 ERA in day games. Pittsburgh has lost six of 10 and the Pirates are 12-14 on the road. Mitch Keller has a .300 opponent batting in road games and a 5.32 ERA in four day games this season. Take the Cubs.

Pittsburgh has won three of the five meetings this season, including the first two games of this series. The Cubs were no-hit through six innings by rookie phenom Paul Skenes on Friday and lost 9-3 to the Pirates, who got home runs by Andrew McCutchen and Jared Triolo. Chicago has lost six of nine and will face Bailey Falter, who allowed two runs on five hits in six innings against the Cubs on Sunday in a game Pittsburgh eventually lost 5-4 in 10 innings. The Cubs have not given Shota Imanaga much run support lately scoring a total of only six runs his past three starts and they lost 2-0 to Atlanta on Monday when he went five innings. Chicago has lost four straight home games versus teams with losing records. Take the Pirates.

Paul Skenes will make his second start for Pittsburgh and his first one was nothing great as he allowed three runs on six hits in four innings on Saturday against the Cubs, who now will see him again. The Pirates pulled out a 10-9 win in that game, but this time they'll face Kyle Hendricks, who came off the injury list and gave up a run on two hits in five innings against the Pirates on Sunday. Chicago has gone UNDER three of its past four games and the forecast calls for chilly conditions with the wind blowing in at 9 mph at Wrigley Field. Pittsburgh is 4-0-1 UNDER against a team that allowed at least five runs its previous game. Chicago is 13-6 following a loss this season and Hendricks has a 3.59 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP in 22 career starts against the Pirates. Take the Cubs and the UNDER.

The Pittsburgh Pirates turned a lot of heads when they started the season 9-2. What was more impressive than that is they won five straight on the road. All that was a positive sign for the future, but they have become more of what most expected since. The Pirates are just 10-23 since that start, and really have struggled with their pitching which has allowed a woeful 55 runs in their last six starts. That is more than nine runs per game. The Cubs are 25-19 to start the season as they come home to open their homestand with a four-game set vs. Pittsburgh. I think this is a strong opportunity for Chicago in this series and on the homestand to move themselves closer to some of the better teams. The Cubs pitching has allowed just 57 runs over their last 16 decisions, or about 3.5 runs per game. I like the Chicago Cubs in this one.