Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates preview, Sunday 5/9, 1:20 CT

Sunday notes...

• IT’S BEEN A WHILE: The Cubs go for a homestand sweep this afternoon. The last time a Cubs team swept an entire homestand of six games or longer was August 6-13, 2015, when they did it in a seven-game homestand, a four-game sweep of the Giants followed by a three-game sweep of the Brewers.
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Cubs reliever Dillon Maples turns 29 today.
• STARTING SOMETHING: Through the five four games of this homestand, Cubs starting pitchers have posted a 1.69 ERA (five earned runs in 26⅔ innings) with seven walks, 22 strikeouts, a .222 opponent batting average (22‐for‐99) and a .630 opponent OPS
• STEALING SOMETHING: The Cubs’ 26 stolen bases in the early going already surpass the 24 stolen bases recorded in the 60-game season in 2020. They have 34 attempts, the same total as in 2020, and have had 11 players record at least one stolen base.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

The Pirates lineup was not available at posting time. Please check the BCB Twitter feed for the Pirates lineup.

Kyle Hendricks, RHP vs. Tyler Anderson, LHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

Kyle Hendricks made his best start of the year his last time out, a seven-inning complete game victory over the Dodgers.

So for now, let’s ignore his poor performance Opening Day against the Pirates.

Caveat: It was thought that part of the reason for Kyle’s poor outing Opening Day was the cold weather that afternoon. It’s going to be cold again today. So... let’s hope he’s figured out how to adjust to the cold.

Tyler Anderson has made two starts against the Cubs this year and allowed 15 hits, six runs and three home runs in 10⅓ innings. The Cubs won both those games.

Since then Anderson has a 2.35 ERA and 0.913 WHIP in four starts, pretty good numbers. However, current Cubs are hitting .350 (28-for-80) against Anderson with five home runs. Kris Bryant is 6-for-14 with three of those homers.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. Beth Mowins will call today’s game on Marquee with Jim Deshaies.

For those of you located outside the Cubs and Pirates market territories, all games on MLB.TV are free today — you will need to have a MLB.com account, but everyone outside those territories can watch. (Market territory blackouts still apply.)

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Pirates site Bucs Dugout. If you do go there to interact with Pirates 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.