Chicago Cubs vs. San Francisco Giants preview, Tuesday 7/10, 9:15 CT

SAN FRANCISCO — Kris Bryant had two at-bats in Double-A Tennessee’s afternoon game against Montgomery and then left the game. That resulted in this speculation:

It’s a long flight from Knoxville to San Francisco, but KB could possibly arrive late this evening and play Wednesday. As always, we await developments.

Other notes for tonight:

• In the first game of this series, Kyle Hendricks became only the second Cubs pitcher in the last 25 years to throw more than eight innings in a game without allowing an earned run and recording a no decision. The other: current Giant Jeff Samardzija on May 5, 2014. Shark allowed one unearned run in nine innings in an eventual 3-1, 12-inning Cubs setback to the White Sox.
• Monday also marked the third time this year the Cubs have played back-to-back extra-inning games (also March 30-31 in Miami and May 5-6 in St. Louis).
• Javier Baez is on pace to record 41 doubles, 31 homers, 31 stolen bases and 120 RBI this season. Also, since last year’s All-Star break, Javy is hitting .293 (159-for-546) with 30 homers and 107 RBI in 153 games.
• In the Cubs’ last 42 games since May 25, the team has gone 26-16 (.619) for the second-best winning percentage in the N.L. (Dodgers, 27-14/.659) and sixth-best in the majors.
• Albert Almora Jr. is hitting .368 (14-for-38) with three doubles, a homer and six RBI in his last 10 games since June 28.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Giants lineup:

Jose Quintana, LHP vs. Derek Holland, LHP

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Tonight, Jose Quintana finds himself in much the same spot that Kyle Hendricks was in last night. Talented. Past success. Recent struggles.

He’s had seven starts (out of 17) that I would consider “good” or “excellent.” The rest are various shades of mediocrity, including his start against the Giants May 26 at Wrigley Field. He didn’t get out of the fifth inning, allowed four runs, and threw 83 pitches. Brandon Crawford homered off him.

In two career starts at AT&T Park, Jose has a 4.97 ERA and 1.026 WHIP. He’ll have to do better than that tonight.

This was supposed to be Johnny Cueto’s start, but he was pushed back a day to give him more recovery time, as he’s made just one start since coming off the DL with elbow trouble. Cueto will start Wednesday afternoon for the Giants.

And so, lefty Derek Holland will face the Cubs tonight. Holland had a good outing against the Cubs May 25 at Wrigley Field, allowing three runs (two earned) in six innings. The Cubs won that game off the Giants bullpen.

Holland was removed from the Giants rotation after a three-inning, seven-hit, four-walk outing against the Diamondbacks July 1, and has made two relief appearances since then. The only Cub hitter who has more than a handful of at-bats against Holland is Ben Zobrist, who’s hitting .290 (9-for-31) against him with three doubles, a triple and a home run.

Today’s game is on ABC7 Chicago, and also available on Facebook Live (Chicago area only).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Giants site McCovey Chronicles. If you do go there to interact with Giants fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2018 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used during 2017. 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.

Discuss amongst yourselves.