Chicago Cubs vs. Atlanta Braves preview, Thursday 6/27, 1:20 CT

A few brief notes before an afternoon affair:

• FREE WILLY! Willson Contreras extended his hitting streak to 10 games (.417/15-for-36) with his fourth inning homer Wednesday evening. During the streak, he has three doubles, one triple, four homers and 13 RBI. His 17 homers are tied for the most-ever by a Cubs catcher prior to the All-Star Break — with 10 games to go before the break. Rick Wilkins also had 17 homers in 1993. Lastly, Willson Wednesday became the first Cubs catcher with a triple and homer in a game since Michael Barrett, May 23, 2006.
• YOU GO, KB: Kris Bryant had a three-hit game Wednesday, his team-leading seventh of the season. He has now reached base in 23-straight games, the second-longest streak of his career (also, 26 games, April 17-May 17, 2019). KB is the only player in baseball this season with at least two on-base streaks of 23 games or more. His home run was his first at Wrigley Field since May 24 vs. the Reds and first homer overall since June 14 at Dodger Stadium.
• UNDER-THE-RADAR RELIEF HELP: Brandon Kintzler threw another scoreless inning Wednesday and has not allowed a run in 18 outings at Wrigley Field this season in 18⅔ innings pitched.
• HEYWARD HIGHLIGHTS: Jason Heyward has gone 9-for-17 (.529) in his last five games and since June 11 is hitting .354/.392/.542 (17-for-48) with three doubles and two home runs. On the season to date, he has a .792 OPS, his best since 2015.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Insert "other split squad: joke here.

Braves lineup:

Tyler Chatwood, RHP vs. Bryse Wilson, RHP

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Tyler Chatwood. Man, I still don’t know what to think. He’s had some good relief appearances this season, and made one good start and one mediocre one, the latter being his outing a week ago today.

So I looked up his splits. He’s pitched much better at home (2.35 ERA, 1.130 WHIP in 23 innings) than on the road (5.63 ERA, 2.000 WHIP in 16 innings). He’s pitched much better in day games (1.76 ERA, 1.043 WHIP in 15⅓ innings) than in night games (4.94 ERA, 1.775 WHIP in 23⅔ innings). He did throw two innings vs. the Braves April 4 in Atlanta without walking anyone.

So here we have a home day game against a team who didn’t walk against him two months ago. Seems somewhat promising. That’s all I got.

Bryse Wilson, who has made five MLB appearances (two starts) over the last two seasons, was a Top 100 prospect from all three of the major services (Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, MLB.com) prior to this season.

His minor-league numbers don’t look all that impressive, though his BB and K rates are pretty good. He has never faced the Cubs or anyone on the current Cubs roster, so we’ll see how that goes.

Today’s game is on NBC Sports Chicago.

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.