Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Saturday 4/10, 5:35 CT

Saturday notes:

• KB ON TRACK: Kris Bryant’s home run on Thursday was his second of the season in the team’s seventh game. It’s the quickest he’s reached his second homer of any season, surpassing the eight team games it took in 2018. Dating to the final two games of the 2020 season, Bryant has homered in four of his last nine regular season contests.
• ZACH ON TRACK: Zach Davies enters tonight’s outing having not allowed an earned run in his last 16⅔ innings on the road dating to August 17, 2020 at Texas while with the Padres.. The righthander enters this evening having allowed three or fewer earned runs in a career‐high 19 straight outings since August 31, 2019. More on tonight’s pitching matchup below.
• PITTSBURGH-AREA NATIVE: Ian Happ has reached base safely in each of his last 13 road starts dating to the nightcap of a twinbill in Cincinnati on August 29, 2020, batting .296 (16‐for‐54) during the run.
• THE WHIFF: Cubs pitching has recorded six 10‐strikeout games within the first seven games of the season for the first time in franchise history. The 2005 and 2017 Cubs recorded five 10‐strikeout contests within their first seven games of the season

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Pirates lineup:

Zach Davies, RHP vs. Mitch Keller, RHP

MLB Photos via Getty Images

MLB Photos via Getty Images

Here we have another pitching rematch from last weekend at Wrigley Field, Sunday’s 4-3 Cubs win.

Davies threw 5⅔ solid innings, allowing four hits and two runs and generally getting weak contact. The Cubs knocked Keller out of the game after three innings, scoring three runs off him. Ian Happ homered off Keller.

I’d take another one like that, only with a few more Cubs hits (they had just three last Sunday).

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s 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 2021 Game Thread procedure will be a bit different than previous years. It will be similar to what we’ve used for Spring Training.

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, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game, including the First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread, as well as the recap when it’s published. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post.

You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread and the overflow thread in the box marked “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at 90 minutes after the scheduled game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.