Happy Labor Day: Cubs at Pittsburgh, Kuhl v Jake Arrieta, Lineup, Notes

Today: Chicago opens a four-game set with a 4:05 holiday matinee starting time. The contest will be carried on AT&T SportsNet, ESPN & 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup: Starling Marte LF, Max Moroff 2B, Cutch CF, Josh Bell 1B, David Freese 3B, Jordan Luplow RF, Sean Rodriguez SS, Elias Diaz C & Chad Kuhl P. It's Eli's third straight start. Mad Max & J-Lup are getting their second consecutive start while Jordy gets a day off.

Chad and Jake hook up again (photo Pittsburgh Pirates)

Pitchers: Chad Kuhl (6-10, 4.54) in a rematch against Jake Arrieta (14-8, 3.36). The pair met last Wednesday at Wrigley with Arrieta coming up a 4-1 winner. Chad has posted a nice slash of late (4-4/3.44 in his last 12 starts) but still has to work on more efficiency and getting deeper into games. Chad's 0-2 against the Bruins in three starts this year, getting killed in an April start and then pitching more creditably in the next pair of outings. In nine starts since the All-Star break, Arrieta is 6-1/1.59/.189 oppo BA and took the NL Pitcher of the Month award in August, so it's safe to say he's back from his early season blahs. Jake doesn't own Pittsburgh anymore - he's 1-2 in four starts this year - but his 3.27 ERA and 1.091 WHIP against the Pirates this campaign are pretty strong numbers.

Notes:

• One reason the attack has sputtered in the dog days (aside from missing Gregory, Cervy, Fraze and now J-Hay) is that Cutch has gone cold again; he's batting .187 with four extra-base hits since August 1st.
• This will be Elias Diaz's eighth appearance in the last nine games and third straight start; he opened behind the dish in four of the matches and was a late-inning sub for Stew, catching two or three frames, in the other four.
• Indy gave out their end-of-season awards; the big prize winners were absent as they were in Pittsburgh: Chris Bostick won the MVP and Steven Brault was chosen the Pitcher of the Year.