Chicago Cubs vs. Kansas City Royals preview, Tuesday 8/4, 7:15 CT

Notes for Tuesday...

• GO GRANDPA! Besides David Ross, just three others have started their Cubs managerial career with at least eight wins in their first 10 games: Albert Spalding (9-1 in 1876), Cap Anson (9-1 in 1879) and Rogers Hornsby (8-2 in 1930-31).
• THE PROFESSOR: Kyle Hendricks is 7-1 with a 1.77 ERA (19 earned runs in 96⅔ innings) in his last 14 starts at Wrigley field dating to April 19 of last season, recording 13 quality starts. His 1.77 home ERA in that span leads the majors, ahead of the Mets’ Jacob deGrom (2.03) and the Astros’ Justin Verlander (2.26). More on Kyle below.
• EVERYONE DIGS THE LONG BALL: Javier Baez, Ian Happ and Anthony Rizzo lead the team with three homers apiece. The Cubs and Padres (Trent Grisham, Wil Myers, Fernando Tatis Jr.) are the only N.L. teams with three players with three or more homers each.
• LET’S GET HAPP-Y: Ian Happ went 1-for-3 in Monday’s game, and in his last 18 games dating to September 21 of last season he is hitting .375 (21-for-56) with five doubles, eight homers, 18 RBI, a .435 on-base percentage, an .893 slugging percentage and a 1.328 OPS.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Royals lineup:

Kyle Hendricks, RHP vs. Brady Singer, RHP

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports

You know the Cubs must be having a great starting pitching year when Kyle Hendricks’ ERA is the worst among the five starters.

Hendricks threw a complete-game shutout against the Brewers in his first start, but the Reds knocked him around a bit his last time out, where he was charged with six earned runs in 4⅓ innings. The last two weren’t his fault, as they scored on a home run served up by Rex Brothers.

Kyle’s only career start vs. the Royals was September 28, 2015, and as you can see by that boxscore link, most of those Royals (who won the World Series that year) are long gone. Kyle threw six shutout innings that night, a game won in extras on a Chris Denorfia walkoff homer.

With the weather again forecast to be cool with the wind blowing in, it could be a good night for pitchers.

Brady Singer was the Royals’ first-round pick (18th overall) in 2018 out of the University of Florida — six picks before the Cubs chose Nico Hoerner. Singer has just one year of pro experience, 2019, split between the Royals’ Advanced-A and Double-A affiliates, where he posted a 2.85 ERA and 1.187 WHIP in 26 starts.

They’re very high on his talent and he has made two starts for them this year covering 10 innings. He’s allowed four runs (3.60 ERA) with four walks and 10 strikeouts.

Singer has obviously never faced the Cubs or anyone on their roster. Often, that’s an advantage to the pitcher. We’ll find out soon. As noted in the Royals lineup tweet, today is Singer’s birthday, he turns 24 today.

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

Please visit our SB Nation Royals site Royals Review. If you do go there to interact with Royals 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 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/Date) 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.