Cubs Opening Day 2019: Live updates and highlights vs. Rangers

Second inning; Cubs 0, Rangers 0

Cubs 0, Rangers 0: A nice catch by Anthony Rizzo on the foul side of the first base line helped Jon Lester respond with a brief inning of his own. The Cubs lefty is up to 29 pitches through two innings.

Cubs 0, Rangers 0: Mike Minor does quick work of the Cubs in the second, going 1-2-3 through Willson Contreras, David Bote and Ben Zobrist.

First inning: Cubs 0, Rangers 0

Cubs 0, Rangers 0: After a walk to Joey Gallo, Jon Lester got out of the jam by inducing a grounder from Hunter Pence.

Cubs 0, Rangers 0: Jon Lester’s first strikeout of the season came after a big swing-and-miss by Rougned Odor, but Elvis Andrus singles to get the Rangers onto the basepaths with two outs and Joey Gallo coming up.

Cubs 0, Rangers 0: A walk by Anthony Rizzo gave the Cubs their first baserunner of the season, but Javier Baez hit a hard grounder to third for the final out. No runs for the Cubs in their first inning of 2019.

Cubs 0, Rangers 0: The first at-bat of the Cubs’ season is a deep fly out by Albert Almora Jr. Solid contact off the bat but no fireworks yet.

Before the game

Pregame reading

Game 1 of 162 is here, Cubs fans. The team takes on the Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, on Thursday afternoon as part of MLB’s stacked 15-game Opening Day schedule. It’s the first of three consecutive road series to begin the year before the team returns to Wrigley Field for its home opener on April 8.

Jon Lester will take the mound for his fourth Opening Day start in five years with the Cubs. He didn’t have the best spring training with a 10.57 ERA in five starts, but that won’t matter much if he gets off to a strong start in his first real pitching appearance of the year. A year ago, Lester lasted less than four innings before he was pulled in the Cubs’ 8-4 Opening Day win over the Marlins.

The Rangers will be sending out another left-hander in Mike Minor, who’s making his first career Opening Day start. He battled back after years of injuries to have a solid 2018 season with Texas.

Rookie Mark Zagunis will be making his big league debut Thursday as the starting left fielder and No. 9 hitter in the batting order. Albert Almora Jr. is batting leadoff and David Bote is in at second base, which allows Ben Zobrist to fill the designated hitter spot. You can check out the full lineup here.

This post will be regularly updated once the game starts. First pitch is set for 3:05 p.m. on WGN.

Read more Cubs coverage

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• Cubs’ Opening Day roster from A(lmora) to Z(obrist)
• Cubs lock up starter Kyle Hendricks with $55.5 million extension through 2023
• Don’t take Baseball Prospectus’ Cubs projection too seriously