Chicago Cubs vs. Detroit Tigers preview, Wednesday 7/4, 1:20 CT

Happy Independence Day!

ICYMI, here's the scoop on today's recall of Victor Caratini.

Here are a few notes for this afternoon’s contest.

• The Cubs are 34-17 (.667) against the American League since the start of 2016, the most wins and top winning percentage among N.L. teams during that span. So far in interleague play this season, the Cubs are 7-4 against the A.L. with nine games remaining, including 6-3 at Wrigley Field.
• Anthony Rizzo today breaks the franchise record for most interleague games played when he appears in his 108th such game. Sammy Sosa previously held the record with 107.
• Today is the sixth of a nine-game stretch of day games. This is the first time the Cubs will play nine consecutive day games since June 11-21, 2009, a stretch that started with a game in Houston and continued with an eight-game homestand against the Twins, White Sox and Indians. (H/T: Ed Hartig)
• Albert Almora Jr. is hitting .329, second in the N.L. to Scooter Gennett (.332). His home BA of .352 is also second in that category (Nolan Arenado, .367).
• Since May 29 Jason Heyward is hitting .349/.383/.516 (44-for-126) with 12 doubles and three home runs.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Tigers lineup:

Jose Quintana, LHP vs. Francisco Liriano, LHP

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports

Jose Quintana. Which one will show up today? The guy who threw seven one-hit innings against the Reds May 19? Or the Q who labored through 92 pitches in five innings against the same Reds June 22?

Maddening. (No, not “Maddoning.”) Same guy, one day he looks almost unhittable, another time you wonder why he’s even in the rotation.

As a former pitcher in the A.L. Central, Quintana has quite a bit of experience vs. the Tigers, 18 career starts, 4.37 ERA, 1.401 WHIP. Those numbers, oddly enough, are very close to his season numbers this year (4.31, 1.412).

Current Tigers are hitting .317 (39-for-123) against Q, but a lot of that is from Victor Martinez (18-for-42), and Martinez is having a bad year and he’s a DH, so he won’t be doing anything but pinch-hitting in this series.

Like Quintana, Francisco Liriano has a long history against the Cubs, mostly from his days with the Pirates: 14 starts, 3.27 ERA, 1.185 WHIP. Liriano hasn’t faced the Cubs since 2016, though, and that year they pounded him pretty good: three starts, 7.63 ERA, 1.957 WHIP, four home runs in 15⅓ innings.

Current Cubs are hitting .252 (27-for-107) against him. Kris Bryant is 5-for-11 with three doubles and a home run; unfortunately, KB is still on the DL and won’t be in today’s game.

Fun fact: Quintana and Liriano were White Sox teammates for a couple of months after the Sox acquired Liriano at the trading deadline in 2012. They pitched in the same game once: September 25, 2012, a game Liriano started and Quintana threw in relief.

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

Please visit our SB Nation Tigers site Bless You Boys. If you do go there to interact with Tigers 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.