Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers preview, Wednesday 9/12, 7:05 CT

Wednesday notes:

• Tuesday night marked the Cubs’ major league-best 16th shutout of the season after collecting eight shutouts all of last season. The team’s 16 shutouts are their most since recording 21 in 2015.
• In Victor Caratini’s last seven starts behind the plate, he’s caught two shutouts and the pitching staff has allowed one earned run in three other games while posting a 1.86 ERA (13 earned runs in 62⅔ innings).
• Cubs relievers have combined for a N.L.-best 3.35 ERA (196 earned runs in 526⅔ innings) this season, the fourth-best mark among major league bullpens. Steve Cishek (2.23 ERA), Carl Edwards Jr. (2.31 ERA) and Pedro Strop (2.33 ERA) form the only N.L. trio of qualifying relievers with sub-2.50 ERAs this season.
• Jesse Chavez has posted a 1.55 ERA (five earned runs in 29 innings) in 24 games since he was acquired by the Cubs in a July 19 trade. Jorge De La Rosa, signed by the Cubs as a free agent on August 10, has a 1.76 ERA (three earned runs in 15⅓ innings) in 11 relief appearances since then.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Brewers lineup:

Kyle Hendricks, RHP vs. Chase Anderson, RHP

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Hendricks has been clicking on all cylinders lately. Last 12 starts: 2.97 ERA, 1.156 WHIP, just 10 walks in 72⅔ innings. Last four starts: 1.44 ERA, 1.120 WHIP, one home run in 25 innings. This is the Hendricks we’ve seen the last three years.

He has faced the Brewers three times this year and has posted a 4.00 ERA. In the last of those three, August 15 at Wrigley Field, Carl Edwards Jr. allowed a couple of inherited runners from Kyle to score, inflating that ERA a bit.

Current Brewers are hitting .216 (46-for-211) against Kyle with 52 strikeouts.

Chase Anderson’s 2018 season is not quite as good as the year he posted in 2017, and over his last six starts he has a 5.16 ERA and has allowed eight home runs in 29⅔ innings, and in that period has gone more than five innings just once.

He faced the Cubs twice in April and allowed just three runs in 13 total innings, but the Cubs threw shutouts in both of those games and won both of them. Current Cubs are hitting .238 (34-for-143) against Anderson with nine home runs, including three each by Ben Zobrist and Kris Bryant.

Today’s game is on ABC7 Chicago. It’s also on ESPN (no blackouts).

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 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.

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