Chicago Cubs vs. San Francisco Giants preview, Monday 7/22, 8:45 CT

The Cubs have played poorly on the road this season, though that is divided into three distinct stretches.

They began the year with a 2-7 road trip. Since May 27 they are 6-16 away from Wrigley Field.

In between those bad runs, though, the Cubs won 10 of 14 road games between April 15 and May 19. That included sweeps in Miami (three games) and Seattle (two games). So this year’s edition of the Cubs can win on the road. It would be helpful if they began doing that again starting tonight.

Notes:

• This is the Cubs’ 100th game of the season. They are one of four teams to post a winning record through 100 games for each of the last five seasons (Astros, Dodgers and Yankees are the others).
• Anthony Rizzo has a 20-game on-base streak in which he is hitting .370/.460/.562 (27-for-73) with nine doubles, a triple, a home run, 13 RBI and 15 runs scored.
• The Cubs have hit 23 homers in their last 13 games since July 3, and have homered in 17 of their last 20 games since June 26. Their 155 home runs this season are fourth-most in the N.L. behind the Dodgers (173), Brewers (169) and Braves (156) and are on pace for 254, which would break the franchise record of 235 set in 2004.
• Jason Heyward, 22 games since June 22: .354/.393/.658 (28-for-79) with seven doubles, a triple, five home runs and 17 RBI.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Giants lineup:

Alec Mills, RHP vs. Shaun Anderson, RHP

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Alec Mills had a rough first inning last Tuesday against the Reds, but then settled down and wound up with a decent, six-inning start with just one walk and six strikeouts.

He has never faced the Giants or anyone on their roster. You know how this sometimes goes when the Cubs have to face a guy like this. Hopefully this will work to Mills’ advantage, though see below.

Shaun Anderson, a rookie this year, has made 12 major-league starts. He was doing all right until July started, then... uh-oh: three starts this month, 8.78 ERA, 2.100 WHIP.

He has been somewhat better in San Francisco (seven starts, 4.05 ERA, just one HR allowed in 26⅔ innings) than on the road (five starts, 5.45 ERA, six HR allowed in 38 innings).

Like Mills, Anderson has never faced tonight’s opponent or anyone on the Cubs roster. That should make for an interesting matchup.

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

Please visit our SB Nation Giants site McCovey Chronicles. If you do go there to interact with Giants 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.