Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers preview, Monday 4/12, 6:40 CT

Monday notes:

• YOU LOOK FAMILIAR: This is the 10th game (4‐5 so far) of a 12‐game season‐opening stretch against NL Central opponents, facing just two teams, the Pirates and Brewers. This is the first time since 1993 in which the Cubs will play just two opponents in the season’s first 12 contests. In ‘93, the Cubs opened with three games at home against the Braves, a six‐game trip to Philadelphia and Atlanta, then three games at Wrigley Field against the Phillies. The Cubs went 6-6 on that 12-game stretch on their way to an 84-78 season.
• ONE BAD INNING: Cubs pitching has allowed 10 second‐inning runs spanning the last two games, including a seven‐run second inning Saturday in Pittsburgh … Chicago now has an 11.00 ERA (11 earned runs in nine innings) in the second inning thus far, compared to a 3.17 ERA (25 earned runs in 71 innings) in all other innings combined.
• IT’S NOTHING PERSONAL: Willson Contreras has been hit by 17 pitches since the start of the 2020 season. That leads the majors in that time frame (Ramon Laureano is second with 14). Contreras was hit by a pitch Sunday in Pittsburgh for the third time this season, tied for most in the NL with Roman Quinn.
• HERE’S SOME RELIEF: The Cubs bullpen has struck out 35.9 percent of their batters faced (55‐for‐153), the best mark among major league relief corps. The Yankees pen is second (35.0 percent) while San Diego’s is third (31.9 percent).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Brewers lineup:

(Umpire crew time listed in Eastern time)

Adbert Alzolay, RHP vs. Freddy Peralta, RHP

MLB Photos via Getty Images

MLB Photos via Getty Images

This is a pitching rematch of the game last Tuesday at Wrigley Field.

Adbert Alzolay allowed four runs in five innings, really making only one mistake — a three-run homer by Travis Shaw. It wasn’t as bad an outing as the numbers make it look.

Freddy Peralta threw five innings and allowed only one hit, a fourth-inning double by Kris Bryant. That’s the only hit the Cubs had in the game.

We are, of course, hoping for a different result tonight.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. It’s also on FS1 (no blackouts).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Brewers site Brew Crew Ball. If you do go there to interact with Brewers 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 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.