Chicago Cubs vs. Miami Marlins preview, Thursday 5/9, 1:20 CT

Notes for Thursday:

• With Wednesday’s win, the Cubs are 6-4 in one-run games (6-2 since April 21) and 2-0 in extra innings.
• Since April 7, the Cubs are 19-6, the best record in baseball and the best in the N.L. by a significant margin (the Cardinals are second-best at 13-11). They also lead MLB in fewest runs allowed in that time frame, also by a significant margin (71 runs allowed, Rays are second with 91, Reds are second in the N.L. with 97).
• The Cubs lead the N.L. in runs per game (5.76), OBP (.352) and OPS (.812) and after a horrific start for the pitching staff, now stand third in the N.L. in ERA (3.67) and second in ERA+ (122).
• The Cubs have drawn 153 walks in 34 games, 4.5 per game, a pace for 729 walks for the season. That would shatter the team record of 656, set in 2016.
• Anthony Rizzo, last 10 games: .366/.438/.829 (15-for-41), four doubles, five home runs, 13 RBI.
• Javier Baez, month of May: seven games, .393/.400/.786 (11-for-28), five doubles, two home runs, seven runs scored.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Marlins lineup:

Yu Darvish, RHP vs. Trevor Richards, RHP

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Every time Yu Darvish gives hope that he’s turned the corner, he turns in another clunker like he did last Saturday vs. the Cardinals. He had a decent start April 15 vs. the Marlins in Miami, allowing four hits and two runs in 5⅔ innings. He walked four, but struck out eight and gave up a solo homer to Chad Wallach.

Is that enough for another good outing today? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Small sample size alert: In two day-game starts, Darvish has an ERA of 8.00 compared to 4.94 in five night-game starts this year.

Trevor Richards was Darvish’s opponent in that April 15 game. The Cubs scored three runs off him in the first inning and didn’t look back, overall scoring five off him in 4⅔ innings. He walked four, and that’s been his issue most of this year: 5.1 walks per nine innings. Since that April 15 outing: three starts, 4.91 ERA, 1.432 WHIP, four home runs in 14⅔ innings.

Today’s game is on NBC Sports Chicago Plus. If you have “cut the cord,” NBC Sports Chicago games can be streamed in the Cubs’ market territory via Fubo. Sign up for Fubo here.

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 Marlins site Fish Stripes. If you do go there to interact with Marlins 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 2019 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used in previous years. 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.