First pitch: Tuesday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: Los Angeles +200, Chicago -220, Total: N/A

The Cubs will be going for their seventh straight victory when they host the Dodgers on Tuesday.

The Dodgers have been playing well lately, winning six of their past eight games coming into this one. They did, however, lose 2-0 against this Cubs team on Monday and now have to face RHP Jake Arrieta (9-0, 1.72 ERA, 67 K) on Tuesday. That means that runs might be even harder to score this time out. For the Dodgers, LHP Scott Kazmir (4-3, 4.84 ERA, 60 K) will be taking the mound in this one. One trend worth pointing out is that the Dodgers are 27-8 against the money line after a game where they had four or less hits over the past three seasons. The Cubs, however, are 20-2 against the money line with Arrieta on the mound as a favorite of -150 or more over the past two seasons. Chicago has also won in each of Arrieta’s past 23 starts, which is tied for the longest streak in MLB history. OF Trayce Thompson (Back) is probable for the Dodgers in this one and he is really the only starter who was at risk of missing this game for either team.

Scott Kazmir will be the guy tasked with pitching against Jake Arrieta on Tuesday and he should be feeling pretty confident coming into this one. Kazmir is coming off of one of his best starts of the season, allowing just one earned run and striking out 12 batters in six innings against the Reds on May 25. He hasn’t, however, faced this Cubs team and the team’s lineup is a lot better than Cincinnati’s. Kazmir will need to make sure he keeps his walks down and he also can’t afford to let any of his pitches hang too high in the strike zone. Offensively, the only guys that have had any success against Arrieta are 1B Adrian Gonzalez (.296, 5 HR, 26 RBI), OF Carl Crawford (.200, 0 HR, 6 RBI) and OF Yasiel Puig (.239, 5 HR, 20 RBI). Gonzalez is 5-for-18 with a homer and two RBI against Arrieta and also happens to be hot coming into this one. He has eight hits over the past four games and will need to come through in this one. Crawford, meanwhile, is no guarantee to be in the lineup, but he is 5-for-14 with a homer and three RBI against Arrieta in his career. Against such a dominant pitcher, it’d be wise for Los Angeles to give him a shot on Tuesday. Puig, however, will be in the lineup and he is 2-for-3 with a double against Arrieta. That is a small sample size, but perhaps he sees something that his teammates do not. It’d be big if Puig can break through and have a good game in this one.

The Cubs have been on fire recently and now Jake Arrieta will be on the mound to try to earn yet another victory for his team. Arrieta has been one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball recently, but he is coming off of his worst start of the season on May 25. Arrieta allowed four earned runs on seven hits in just 5.0 innings of work against the Cardinals that game. Chicago did, however, win 9-8 and will be hoping that Arrieta got that type of performance out of his system. As for the lineup in this game, the Cubs will be hoping for some big performances from guys like 2B Ben Zobrist (.351, 7 HR, 35 RBI) and 1B Anthony Rizzo (.239, 11 HR, 37 RBI). Zobrist has been one of the best hitters in the league all season and he now has five multi-hit games in his past 10 outings. It’d be big if he can get on base a couple of times in this one. Rizzo, meanwhile, had been slumping badly before going 2-for-3 with an RBI two games ago and 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI against the Dodgers on Monday. The Cubs are counting on him to produce some runs and he’ll likely need to record an RBI or two on Tuesday.