Chicago Cubs vs. San Diego Padres preview, Wednesday 5/31, 2:40 CT

The Cubs have lost five in a row. The Cubs have been outscored 29-8 during this streak.

The Cubs have not lost more than five in a row since September 5-12, 2014, when they lost seven straight (swept by the Pirates at home, swept by the Blue Jays in Toronto, lost the first of a three-game set in Pittsburgh). They were outscored 55-13 (!) during that streak.

The last time any Cubs team lost an entire road trip of six games was August 3-8, 2012, to the same two teams they've played on this one, in the same order: swept by the Dodgers in Los Angeles and the Padres in San Diego, outscored 27-12.

That Cubs team, as you know, was one of the worst in franchise history, losing 101 games. We certainly don't want to see this team match that one's futility.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

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

Here is today's #Cubs lineup.

Game preview: https://t.co/XUBWRWHE0h pic.twitter.com/FTqDldX1TA

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 31, 2017

Padres lineup:

Cordero CF, Solarte 2B, Myers 1B, Renfroe RF, Schimpf 3B, Spangenberg LF, Aybar SS, Torrens C, Perdomo P

Jake Arrieta vs. Luis Perdomo

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Jake Arrieta didn't have a bad outing in Los Angeles -- six innings, four runs, nine strikeouts -- but then, it wasn't really a good outing, either. "Just good enough to lose," as the saying goes. With so many new faces on the Padres, Jake doesn't have much of a track record against any of them (5-for-25). All I can really say is that we need 2016 Jake to show up, because so far the 2017 version appears broken.

Luis Perdomo was bad last year, posting a 5.71 ERA, 1.589 WHIP and -1.0 bWAR. He's been bad this year, with a 5.61 ERA, 1477 WHIP and -0.3 bWAR in eight starts.

He made a three-inning relief appearance against the Cubs last year, but that doesn't tell us much. We do have some more recent evidence, even if it's only spring training. Perdomo pitched against the Cubs March 13 in Peoria, Arizona and allowed five hits and two runs in 3⅔ innings. Here is one of those hits:

Wake up.
Hit dingers.
Go to sleep.
Repeat. pic.twitter.com/37EQF8qgNB

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) March 13, 2017

That's a monster home run by Ian Happ. Here's hoping for more of that today.

Today's game is on WGN.

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.