The Chicago Cubs and Toronto Blue Jays will begin a three-game interleague series on Monday night at Rogers Centre. Chicago dropped two of three to the Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend including a 9-7 defeat in Sunday's rubber game as a +153 underdog, falling to 55-73 on the season. Toronto holds a Wild Card spot at 68-58, but was swept over three games by the Los Angeles Angels capped by an 8-3 defeat on Sunday as a massive -255 favorite.
These teams haven't met since August of 2017, when the Cubs rolled to a three-game sweep at home.
The Cubs have given Milwaukee some trouble throughout the season, but were unable to keep that going on Sunday as they dropped a slugfest to seal a series loss. Nico Hoerner and Seiya Suzuki both provided RBI singles in the first two innings before Hoerner later launched a two-run shot, yet it still wasn't enough even with Franmil Reyes going deep late.
Starter Adrian Sampson tossed a solid 3.1 innings, allowing one run on on five hits and one walk while striking out two. Sean Newcomb was charged with the loss in relief as he was shelled for six runs in just one inning of work. Hoerner had a three-hit game with three RBI overall, while Reyes added a double in addition to his homer.
“He’s been dominating lefties pretty good but he didn’t get one out,” Cubs manager David Ross said of Newcomb to the Associated Press. “I didn’t expect it to go that way because he’s been throwing the ball well.”
Chicago is down a huge amount on the money line for the season while going a solid 66-62 on the run line. Overs are 55-64-9 for the Cubs, including an even 3-3 over their last six games.
This is a bottom 10 scoring offense at 4.11 runs per game despite posting a solid .700 team OPS. Chicago pitching has also struggled with a 4.23 combined ERA including a mark of 4.14 from the bullpen.
Willson Contreras has been Chicago's best hitter with an .813 OPS, 20 homers and 52 RBI. Hoerner is also having a terrific season with 3.5 WAR on a .293/.341/.413 line, 15 steals and 44 driven in.
Javier Assad will make his second career start after going four scoreless innings in his MLB debut last Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals, allowing four hits and four walks while striking out three. The 24-year-old tossed 36.2 strong innings in AAA this season, posting a 2.95 ERA and 37:7 K:BB ratio.
Infielder Patrick Wisdom (sprained finger) plus outfielders Michael Hermosillo (strained quad) and Jason Heyward (knee inflammation) are on the IL. The rotation is decimated with Adbert Alzolay (strained lat), Kyle Hendricks (strained shoulder), Wade Miley (strained shoulder), Alec Mills (strained back) and Keegan Thompson (back tightness) sidelined. Relievers Steven Brault (strained shoulder), Codi Heuer (Tommy John surgery), Ethan Roberts (Tommy John surgery) and Brad Wieck (Tommy John surgery) are out.