Chicago Cubs vs. San Diego Padres preview, Wednesday 6/2, 1:20 CT

Wednesday notes...

• LOU GEHRIG DAY: Today, all of MLB honors the Yankee great, who died of ALS on this day 80 years ago. The focus of today’s efforts is to raise awareness for ALS while giving back to ALS-focused charities, including Project Main St., a nonprofit organization that strives to improve the quality of life for people afflicted with ALS. Marquee Sports Network’s play-by-play announcer Jon “Boog” Sciambi is a founding member of the nonprofit.
• WINNING THE CLOSE ONES: Despite losing seven times by one run in May, overall the Cubs are 12-9 in one-run games in 2021, a .571 winning percentage that is very close to their overall winning percentage of .574.
• MORE ON ONE-RUN GAMES: The Cubs have won their last four one-run decisions, over four different teams: May 23, Cardinals; May 25, Pirates; May 28, Reds and June 1, Padres.
• THE WISDOM FILES: Patrick Wisdom is the first player to hit at least four homers in his first 10 games with the Cubs since Nick Castellanos did so in 2019. Previously in the last 10 years, this feat was accomplished by Javier Báez (2014), Donnie Murphy (2013) and Anthony Rizzo (2012).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Padres lineup:

Adbert Alzolay, RHP vs. Dinelson Lamet, RHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

Adbert Alzolay seems to get better with every start. To me, it feels like he’s on the cusp of becoming a genuine star.

In May, he made five starts and posted a 3.14 ERA and 0.942 WHIP, with four (!) walks and 28 strikeouts in 28⅔ innings.

Here’s a timely article from Paul Sullivan in the Tribune that gives some good insight into the sort of person Alzolay is — seems like a great kid with a positive attitude (as well as outstanding baseball talent).

Alzolay has never faced the Padres or anyone on their active roster. Hopefully, that will be to his advantage this afternoon.

Dinelson Lamet spent some time on the injured list earlier this year with forearm tightness, which is never a good sign.

His return has been taken slowly, with three starts and two relief appearances. He has yet to go more than three innings or 64 pitches this year, so the San Diego bullpen might come into play this afternoon.

Lamet’s last start vs. the Cubs was September 12, 2019 in San Diego, and that boxscore is worth looking at just to note how many Cubs in that game are no longer on the team. In fact, the Cub he’s faced most is Joc Pederson, from Pederson’s time with the Dodgers, and Joc has hit him well: 3-for-10, a double and two home runs.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. NOTE: Outside the Cubs and Padres market territories, this game will be joined in progress live on MLB Network at 3 p.m. CT.

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.