Chicago Cubs vs. Philadelphia Phillies Preview, Wednesday 5/3, 7:05 CT

Despite the struggles of Cubs starting pitching, the relievers are still doing well. In the team’s last 13 games, the Cubs bullpen has recorded a 1.68 ERA (9 ER/48⅓ IP) while going 3-1 with four saves.

In that time the pen has walked 17, struck out 55 (good for an average of 10.2 strikeouts per 9.0 innings) and held opponents to a .164 average (27-for-165) … the bullpen had an 18-inning scoreless streak prior to allowing four runs (two earned) in Sunday night’s eighth inning.

Now if they can just get the starters to come close to matching that...

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

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

Here is tonight's #Cubs lineup against the #Phillies.

Game preview: https://t.co/kW4Khbr0QL pic.twitter.com/u0KuyN7QVD

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 3, 2017

Phillies lineup:

Hernandez 2B, Nava LF, Altherr RF, Franco 3B, Herrera CF, Stassi 1B, Galvis SS, Knapp C, Eickhoff P

Jake Arrieta vs. Jerad Eickhoff

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports

Jake Arrieta's 2017 numbers do not look good. 4.66 ERA, 1.310 WHIP (both by far his highest as a Cub). Last two starts: nine earned runs, 10⅓ innings, three home runs allowed.

Maybe the Phillies are what he needs. He has not faced them since his great 2015 season, and the last time he saw them, September 11, 2015 in Philadelphia, he threw eight innings and allowed one run, striking out seven. We'll take one of those tonight, thankyouverymuch.

Jerad Eickhoff is off to a decent start this year, though he got hit pretty hard by the Dodgers (five runs in 5⅔ innings) in his last start April 28 in Los Angeles. He made one good start and one mediocre one against the Cubs last year and current Cubs are hitting .200 (10-for-50) against him with one home run (Kyle Schwarber).

Today's game is on CSN Chicago.

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.

Get tickets to Cubs games from our partner Stubhub here.

Discuss amongst yourselves.