Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates Preview, Monday 4/24, 6:05 CT

With Starling Marte suspended till midseason, the Pirates are seeking outfield help:

According to beat writer Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, the Pirates "have mulled" outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis who was recently designated for assignment by the Brewers, but his weak bat makes it unlikely they’ll pursue him. The Mariners also DFA’ed outfielder Leonys Martin over the weekend. His $4.85 million salary may be too rich for the Pirates’ taste, but Seattle could possibly eat some of the money to facilitate a deal. Martin slashed .247/.306/.378 across 576 plate appearances for the Mariners last season.

In the meantime, the Pirates are making do with Adam Frazier, Jose Osuna and even first baseman John Jaso in the outfield.

Hopefully the Cubs can take advantage of this and get out of Pittsburgh with at least two wins.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Schwarber LF, Bryant 3B, Rizzo 1B, Zobrist RF, Russell SS, Heyward CF, Montero C, Anderson P, Baez 2B

Here's tonight's #Cubs lineup for the series opener in Pittsburgh.

Game preview: https://t.co/GYdg0M30wh pic.twitter.com/H68hIGFabn

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 24, 2017

Pirates lineup:

Mercer SS, Harrison 2B, McCutchen CF, Polanco LF, Freese 3B, Cervelli C, Osuna RF, Bell 1B, Kuhl P

Brett Anderson vs. Chad Kuhl

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Brett Anderson has made two good starts and one bad one so far this year. Against the Pirates he has a pretty small sample size -- 6-for-31, one home run (Jordy Mercer). He didn't have his sinker working in his last outing and he needs to in order to be successful.

Chad Kuhl has been solid so far this year, with a 2.60 ERA and 1.154 WHIP in three starts. He has walked seven in 17⅓ innings, though, so if the Cubs can be patient with him they should be able to at least pile up baserunners. The Cubs hit Kuhl pretty hard in two starts last year -- nine earned runs in 5⅓ innings. Javier Baez and Anthony Rizzo homered off Kuhl.

Today's game is on WGN. It’s also on ESPN (outside the Chicago and Pittsburgh markets).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

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The 2017 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used during 2016. Here's how it works.

You'll find the game preview posted separately on the front page, two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page. The First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads will be published in that stream, as well as the recap. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post, and at the time I write the recap I will rename the stream "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.

You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread, all the overflow threads and recap 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 the game's StoryStream as noted above.

The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at one hour, two hours and 2:45 after the scheduled game time.

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Discuss amongst yourselves.