Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Sunday 8/2, 1:20 CT

Today’s bullpen roster move: Here

There’s a chance of rain this afternoon, so keep this handy today:

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Kris Bryant, still out of the lineup.

Pirates lineup:

Jon Lester, LHP vs. Steven Brault, LHP

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Jon Lester threw five no-hit innings against the Reds in his first start of 2020, last Monday in Cincinnati. His velocity still isn’t what it used to be, and probably never will. Like a lot of older pitchers, he has to learn craft and guile where he used to just be able to spot his fastball. At age 36, he appears to be doing this.

Last year against the Pirates, Jon made five starts and posted a 3.16 ERA and 1.636 WHIP. That’s a high WHIP, but he managed to keep most of the baserunners from scoring. Hopefully, the same will happen today.

Steven Brault started a game last Monday against the Brewers and threw two shutout innings. Per this article, both Brault and Chad Kuhl are coming off injuries from last year, so the Pirates have been piggybacking them and will likely do so again this afternoon. The two combined for 5⅔ scoreless innings in the game last Monday. Today, Brault is expected to go three innings and Kuhl likely takes the next three.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here is a list of providers currently carrying Marquee.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

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The 2020 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.