Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Sunday 7/14, 1:20 CT

Sunday notes:

• Jason Heyward, last 15 games since June 22: .393/.433/.714 (22-for-56) with five doubles, a triple, four home runs and 12 RBI. This is the guy the Cubs thought they were getting before the 2016 season. Better late than never, right?
• Willson Contreras had a three-RBI game Saturday. That’s the sixth such game for him this season, most on the team. He’s reached base in six-straight games and has 20 first inning RBI, tied with Alex Gordon for the most in the majors.
• The Cubs scored seven first inning runs Saturday, their most runs in a first inning at home since September 17, 2006 vs. Cincinnati (seven) and their most runs in a first inning overall since September 8, 2009 at Pittsburgh (seven). They also tied their season high for runs in an inning (eighth inning at Milwaukee, April 6) and scored their most runs in an inning at Wrigley Field since July 1, 2018 vs. Minnesota (second inning, eight runs).
• The Cubs are 14-7 in their last 21 home games since May 25, and the club is 31-16 (.660) at Wrigley Field this season, the second-best home record in the National League. (Dodgers, 37-12/.755)

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Pirates lineup:

Jose Quintana, LHP vs. Trevor Williams, RHP

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Jose Quintana’s last two starts give me some hope, at last, that he might turn into the guy the Cubs need for the last couple of months of this season: 2.08 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, only one walk in 13 innings. One of those starts was July 4 in Pittsburgh: seven solid innings, three runs allowed, six strikeouts.

Another one just like that, please.

Trevor Williams is going on 12 days’ rest. Whether that’s too much or not remains to be seen. The Cubs scored five runs off him in 5x innings in his last start July 1, which would have been great except the Cubs gave up ... uh, a lot more than that, which we won’t mention further.

Kyle Schwarber is 6-for-17 (.353) against Williams with a couple of homers, the best performance by a current Cub against him.

Today’s game is on ABC7 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.