Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals preview, Friday 6/11, 1:20 CT

Today's roster move: Here

Friday notes...

• KB THE VERSATILE: Kris Bryant is now in double figures playing at five different positions: Left field (17 — 12 starts), right field (16 — 15 starts), third base (15 — 14 starts), first base (10 — eight starts) and center field (10 — seven starts).
• THE WISDOM OF TODAY: Patrick Wisdom, last 10 games (nine starts): .364/.417/1.030 (12-for-33), a double, seven home runs, nine runs scored.
• WHAT A RELIEF: This season, Cubs relievers have a 2.70 ERA and 1.204 WHIP. The ERA is second in MLB to the Padres, the WHIP ranks sixth. They lead MLB in strikeouts/nine innings ratio at 11.21.
• THE SHERIFF: Andrew Chafin has not allowed a run in his last 13 appearances covering 12⅓ innings. In that span he has allowed six hits (five singles and a double) and four walks (0.811 WHIP) and held opponents to a .150/.227/.175 slash line.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Cardinals lineup:

Kohl Stewart, RHP vs. Johan Oviedo, RHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

Kohl Stewart had a good outing in his first start, vs. the Padres. His second, in San Francisco? Not so much.

He was optioned to Triple-A Iowa after the second start, then recalled when Adbert Alzolay went on the injured list.

He has never faced the Cardinals or anyone on their active roster. Perhaps that will be to his advantage today.

Johan Oviedo has made five starts and one relief appearance for the Cardinals this year, not throwing more than five innings in any of them. He’s peaked at 91 pitches this year, so I’d guess they’ll be watching his innings this afternoon.

Last four outings: 6.91 ERA, 1.954 WHIP, a ton of walks: 13 in 14⅓ innings. Time for the Cubs to exercise patience at the plate.

Oviedo made two starts against the Cubs last year and they hit him pretty well: 4.66 ERA, 1.552 WHIP in 9⅔ innings. Just keep doing that and today should end well.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Cardinals market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos. If you do go there to interact with Cardinals 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.