Cubs at Giants
The Chicago Cubs have established themselves as the best team in baseball with 29 wins in their first 40 games, but they could be without a key piece to their puzzle for a period of time as they continue their road series against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday. Jason Heyward left Friday's 8-1 victory in the first inning with a right torso/abdominal region injury after robbing Denard Span of an extra-base hit with a sensational catch before sliding into the outfield fence.
Chicago, which won 25 of its first 31 games, had lost three of its last four contests and five of eight before prevailing Friday for the 22nd consecutive time when Jake Arrieta starts. National League West-leading San Francisco, which had its season-high eight-game winning streak snapped, continues to struggle offensively as it has scored 33 runs in its last 13 contests. The Cubs' Jon Lester has not allowed more than three runs in any of his eight starts this season and opposes Matt Cain, who is winless in his last 17 appearances (0-8) but recorded quality starts in his last two outings. Lester tries to keep an impressive streak going as Chicago, which leads the NL Central by 6 1/2 games over Pittsburgh, has seen its starter pitch at least five innings in 48 consecutive contests - its longest streak since 1910.
TV: 7:15 p.m. ET, FOX
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cubs LH Jon Lester (4-2, 1.88 ERA) vs. Giants RH Matt Cain (0-5, 5.87)
Lester was a hard-luck loser when he allowed one and two hits - his 22nd career start yielding fewer than three hits - while striking out nine in 6 2/3 innings of a 2-1 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday. The 32-year-old Washington native, who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning Sunday, has recorded 51 strikeouts in 52 2/3 frames this season while posting a 0.97 WHIP and .206 batting average against. Lester is 3-0 with a 1.11 ERA in 24 1/3 innings over three starts versus San Francisco after a victory last August.
Cain received a no-decision - snapping a three-start losing streak - after permitting one run and seven hits while striking out five in seven innings of the Giants' 2-1 victory in Arizona on Sunday. The 31-year-old Alabama native allowed two runs in eight frames of a 4-0 loss to Toronto on May 10 after yielding 18 runs in 17 2/3 innings over his previous three turns. Cain is 6-4 with a 3.08 ERA in 17 starts versus Chicago - including a pair of losses last August, when he permitted 11 runs in nine innings - and has tamed Anthony Rizzo (3-for-21, eight strikeouts) and Dexter Fowler (5-for-28, 11 strikeouts, 11 walks).
WALK-OFFS
2. The Cubs' plus-113 run differential is greater than the next two-highest teams combined (Boston, plus-55; St. Louis and Washington, plus-51)
2. Giants 3B Matt Duffy (.236) snapped an 0-for-21 slide with a single in the third inning Friday and is six for his last 42.
3. Chicago's opponents are 1-for-28 with the bases loaded this season.