After opening their series against the Houston Astros with a shutout victory, the Chicago Cubs will turn the ball over to Matt Garza this afternoon. In the series-opener, Paul Maholm was dazzling on the mound, throwing 8.1 shutout innings and striking out six batters to improve his record to 5-6.
Garza has been solid over his past five starts, allowing three earned runs or less in each of his appearances. Garza picked up a loss in his last outing, although he allowed only three earned runs and struck out seven batters in 7.0 innings.
| Cubs | Astros |
| 1. David DeJesus (L) CF | 1. Jordan Schafer (L) CF |
| 2. Starlin Castro (R) SS | 2. Jed Lowrie (S) SS |
| 3. Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B | 3. Carlos Lee (R) 1B |
| 4. Alfonso Soriano (R) LF | 4. Brian Bogusevic (L) RF |
| 5. Bryan LaHair (L) RF | 5. Chris Johnson (R) 3B |
| 6. Geovany Soto (R) C | 6. Jason Castro (L) C |
| 7. Darwin Barney (R) 2B | 7. J.D. Martinez (R) LF |
| 8. Luis Valbuena (L) 3B | 8. Scott Moore (L) 2B |
| 9. Matt Garza (R) P | 9. J.A. Happ (L) P |
For updates, stay tuned to SB Nation Chicago. For more in-depth coverage of this series, head over to Cubs blog Bleed Cubbie Blue and Astros blog Crawfish Boxes. For more from around Major League Baseball, visit Baseball Nation.