Chicago Cubs vs. Colorado Rockies preview, Tuesday 6/11, 7:40 CT

Notes for Tuesday:

• The Cubs are going to have to start playing better on the road. Including last night, the Cubs have seen five of their last seven road games decided by one run, with the Cubs dropping four of those five games. Overall, 11 of the team’s 17 road losses this season have been by two runs or fewer.
• Home run fun: The Cubs are on pace for 262 home runs this season. The franchise record for homers is 235, set in 2004.
• More home run fun: The Cubs have hit 44 home runs in their last 24 games starting May 17, the most home runs by any club in the National League in that span and trailing only the Twins (45 homers) for most in the majors.
• Even more home run fun: The Cubs have posted multiple innings with at least three homers within the same season for the first time since 2002 when they did so three times. The club record is five times in a season with at least three homers in an inning, set in 1955. (H/T: Ed Hartig)
• On to pitching: Cubs starting pitchers have posted a 2.52 ERA (22 earned runs in 78⅔ innings) in the team’s last 12 games, holding opponents to a .196 average (54-for-275) and a .558 OPS. In that span Cubs starters have walked 15, struck out 70 and allowed just six home runs.
• More pitching: Overall this season, Cubs starting pitchers have turned in 32 quality starts, posting a 1.48 ERA (36 earned runs in 218⅔ innings) in those outings. The Cubs have had a quality start in nearly half of their 65 games this year, going 24-8 in those games.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Rockies lineup:

Jose Quintana, LHP vs. Peter Lambert, RHP

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Another pitching rematch this evening, this one from last Thursday’s game at Wrigley Field. Jose Quintana had a solid outing that afternoon (7⅓ innings, three runs, no walks) but got outpitched by Peter Lambert in his MLB debut.

Quintana last pitched in Coors Field April 22, 2018, and allowed four runs in 5⅓ innings, including home runs by Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenado.

That’s one more game than Peter Lambert has thrown in his new home park. We’ll see if the Cubs having faced Lambert once, and now facing him in Denver, will make a difference.

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 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.