Some more fun no-hitter facts, even though Jake Arrieta couldn't complete his attempt. As was pointed out in the game threads Monday night, the Cubs have a connection to the last time the Red Sox were no-hit:
As @Frustrated_Fan pointed out, the last man to no-hit the Red Sox is the Cubs current pitching coach.
— Cubs No-Hit Streak (@CubsNoHitStreak) July 1, 2014
The Red Sox have the fourth-longest active no-no-hit streak of any team, 3,403 games through Monday night. The last time, as noted in that tweet, was April 22, 1993 by Chris Bosio, then with the Seattle Mariners.
Had Jake Arrieta completed his no-no, it would have been the first time the Red Sox had been no-hit at Fenway Park since Jim Bunning, then of the Detroit Tigers, did it July 20, 1958 in the first game of a doubleheader. There have been 4,449 games played at Fenway Park since then. That's an impressive home-game streak. The Cubs have not been no-hit at Wrigley Field since August 19, 1965, when the Cincinnati Reds' Jim Maloney did it, also in the first game of a doubleheader. The Cubs have played 3,896 games at Wrigley since then, all with at least one hit.
Despite the fact that Edwin Jackson has thrown a no-hitter in his career, I'm thinking it's pretty unlikely he repeats that feat tonight.
Cubs lineup:
Coghlan LF, Sweeney DH, Rizzo 1B, Castro SS, Valbuena 3B, Castillo C, Schierholtz RF, Ruggiano CF, Barney 2B
The Cubs are 1-0 when Ryan Sweeney is the DH. (Not that putting him there was the reason for winning.)
Red Sox lineup:
Holt LF, Pedroia 2B, Ortiz DH, Napoli 1B, Pierzynski C, Bogaerts 3B, Drew SS, Betts RF, Bradley Jr. CF
Today's Starting Pitchers |
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You don't want to know about Edwin Jackson's career record against the Red Sox, nor his lifetime numbers in Fenway Park. Trust me on this one. You really don't want to click on this link and find out. No, you really, truly don't. Don't say I didn't warn you. Current Red Sox, incidentally, are 27-for-85 (.318) against Jackson with five (!) home runs. This ain't gonna be pretty.
Clay Buchholz, once again, has not been able to stay healthy this year, and when he has started, he's been bad. Just off the DL, he's made one start since missing a month with knee problems. He threw reasonably well in that start, against the Mariners, throwing 7⅓ innings and allowing four runs. Decent, right? Well, except for the three home runs he allowed.
This game could wind up 12-11.
Today's game is on CSN Chicago.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Red Sox site Over The Monster.
For 2014, we are going to have the same game-thread routine as 2013. Here's how it works.
You'll find the game preview -- like this one -- posting as the first link in the StoryStream™, which will then contain all the overflow threads and the recap. The recap will also be on the front page as a separate post; once I post a game recap, the stream for each game will be retitled "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.
In general, game previews will post two hours before game time. Exception: for day games after night games, that will usually be 90 minutes.
You will also be able to find the First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in this StoryStream™. As I've done for each regular-season game for several years now, we'll have the First Pitch thread at five minutes before game time (moved up from actual game time per your requests), then an overflow one hour, two hours and 2:45 after game time.
Discuss amongst yourselves.