Courtesy: ESPN
ESPN has a very special edition of its Wednesday Night Baseball presented by Hankook Tire today.
Today on the network’s weekly Wednesday night MLB broadcast, ESPN will carry not one but two games in a special double-header schedule. First up on the day is the closer between the Mets and Cubs in their three-game series. Coverage is expected to begin at 2pm ET. The second game on the schedule will see the Red Sox host the Giants in the closer of their two-game series beginning at 7pm ET.
ESPN’s coverage of the Mets-Cubs series is the second game this week that the network has carried. It also carried coverage of the second game in the teams’ series Tuesday night. That game saw the Mets tie up the series at one game a piece. So the series’ winner will be determined tonight live on ESPN. Kyle Hendricks (8 – 6) is slated to get the start tonight for the Cubs. Meanwhile Bartolo Colon (8 – 4) will get the start for the Mets. Hendricks’ last time on the mound was July 15th against the Rangers. The Cubs won that game 6 – 0 with Hendricks being credited with the win. He kept the Rangers bats silent over six innings, allowing only 3 hits and 2 walks. He didn’t allow any runs, earned runs, or even home runs, and had 3 strike outs.
Colon’s last time on the mound was July 15th against Philadelphia. He led the Mets to a 5 – 3 win over the Phillies in that game, pitching a total of 5.2 innings. Even with the win he still had a little bit of a rough time, allowing all three of the Phillies’ runs on 4 hits. He also allowed 2 walks and had 4 strike outs. The rest of the Mets bullpen picked up the slack with only team-mate Hansel Robles allowing a hit throughout the remainder of the game. He and the rest of the Mets’ bullpen kept the Phillies’ bats silent throughout the rest of the game. By comparison Philadelphia’s Jeremy Hellickson had an even more difficult go of it in the game, allowing 4 runs on 7 hits over 6 innings. He allowed 4 earned runs and 2 home runs along the way, too and had 5 strike outs.
Going by the numbers the Cubs still have the advantage in the series. But coming off of last night’s win the Mets have some momentum and motivation for another win. At the same time, the Cubs will be playing hard, too as they will look to keep from losing two straight. So today’s game gives audiences and teams plenty to anticipate. Karl Ravech will once again have the call for this afternoon’s series finale between the Mets and Cubs. He will be joined in the booth by analyst Dallas Braden and reporter Tim Kurkjian. The game will be blacked out in both the New York and Chicago market.
In the second game of the day, the Red Sox and Giants finish off their two-game series tonight at 7pm on ESPN. Drew Pomeranz (8 – 7) will get the start for Boston in tonight’s game. Matt Cain (1 – 5) will take the mound for San Francisco. Cain hasn’t pitched for the Giants in more than a month. The 31 year-old’s last time taking the mound for the Giants was way back on June 13th. He pitched 3.2 innings in the game, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits over that span. He walked 5, allowed 3 earned runs, and had 3 strike outs.
Only a few weeks have passed since Pomeranz last started. That was back on July 7th before he was traded from the Padres to the Red Sox. He threw 7 innings in that game, and kept the Dodgers’ bats largely silent over that time allowing only 2 hits and picking up 6 strike outs along the way. That lowered his ERA to 2.47.
Looking at the bigger picture for tonight’s game on ESPN, the numbers favor Boston for the win. The Red Sox are 31 – 20 at home so far this season and defeated the Giants in the first game of the teams’ series last night, blanking the Giants 4 – 0. The Giants meanwhile are in the midst of a 4-game skid and are 5 – 5 in their last ten games versus Boston’s 8 – 2 record in their last ten games. Coverage of tonight’s game between the Red Sox and Giants begins at 7pm ET on ESPN. The game will be blacked out in the San Francisco market. John Sciambi will have the call for tonight’s game. He will be joined in the booth by Doug Glanville and Pedro Gomez for additional commentary. Following the game, Adnan Virk and John Kruk will have a full re-cap of the game and all of the action around the league on Baseball Tonight. That will be at 10pm.
More information on today’s double header schedule is available online now along with all of the latest MLB headlines at:
Website: http://espn.go.com/mlb
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ESPNBaseballTonight
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BBTN
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