Chicago Cubs vs. San Diego Padres preview, Tuesday 6/1, 7:05 CT

Tuesday notes...

• A BIT OF HISTORY: Patrick Wisdom and Javier Báez became the first Cubs left-side infielders (3B, SS) hit multiple homers in the same game since April 16, 1955, when Ernie Banks and Randy Jackson did so in a 12-11, 14-inning loss in St. Louis. (H/T: ESPN and Elias)
• THOSE 19 WINS IN MAY: The last time before May 2021 that the Cubs won at least 19 games in a month and posted a run differential of at least +46 was in August 2016 when the team was 22-6 with a +58 run differential.
• LOTS AND LOTS OF CUBS: The Cubs have already used 43 players this season, most recently adding Kohl Stewart who yesterday made his first appearance as a Cub. Just two N.L. clubs have utilized more than 43 players thus far: Brewers (44 players) and Pirates (44).
• THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: The Cubs have won 11 of their last 14 home games since May 4 and are 15-5 in their last 20 home games since April 20. The team has outscored its guests by 49 runs (109-60) in the last 20 games at Wrigley Field.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

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

Kyle Hendricks, RHP vs. Ryan Weathers, LHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

After a horrific April, Kyle Hendricks righted the ship in May: five starts, 2.67 ERA, 1.188 WHIP, three walks in 33⅔ innings. He’s still a bit prone to the home-run ball, as he allowed four in May, but that was a lot better than the 11 he served up in April.

Kyle has not faced the Padres since September 9, 2019 in San Diego, when he allowed two runs in 5⅔ innings. Just to tell you how long ago that was: Nick Martini was the Padres’ starting LF in that game (and he went 3-for-5!).

Current Padres are a small-sample-size 16-for-60 (.267) against Kyle with two home runs.

You might recall Ryan Weathers’ dad David Weathers, who had a 19-year MLB career with nine different teams, including 28 games pitched for the Cubs in 2001. David Weathers pitched in 964 MLB games (19th-most all time) and posted 75 career saves and 10.9 bWAR.

Ryan’s probably a better baseball talent — he was the Padres’ No. 1 pick (seventh overall) in 2018. He has pitched in 11 games (six starts) for San Diego this year at age 21, with good numbers thus far — a 1.31 ERA and 0.903 WHIP. Per Fangraphs he relies mostly on his fastball and slider.

He has yet to go six innings in any of his starts, and in his last three threw only four innings and maxed out at 78 pitches. So this very well could be some sort of modified “bullpen game” for the Padres.

Obviously, Weathers has never faced the Cubs or anyone on their active roster. Before 2021 Weathers had not pitched above A-ball, and had pitched in just 29 minor-league games.

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

Please visit our SB Nation Padres site Gaslamp Ball. If you do go there to interact with Padres 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.