Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals preview, Wednesday 7/21, 7:15 CT

Wednesday notes...

• THE PROFESSOR: Kyle Hendricks is the first Cub to record 12 wins prior to August since Jon Lester was 12-4 at the end of July 2018 and aims to become the first Cub with 13 victories since Carlos Zambrano was 14-7 entering August 2007. More on Kyle below.
• JAVY NEWS: Javier Báez, last 10 games: .400/.405/.675 (16-for-40) with two doubles and three home runs.
• GOOD THING ROBINSON CHIRINOS IS HERE NOW: Willson Contreras leads the majors with 78 starts and 656⅔ innings behind the plate. Dating to the start of the 2018 season, Contreras’ 2,902⅓ innings caught are second-most in the majors behind only J.T. Realmuto (2927⅔).
• OH, THAT NINTH INNING: The Cubs now have two wins on this road trip when they trailed entering the ninth inning after being 0-41 in those games prior to that. They are still undefeated when leading entering the ninth: 40-0.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Cardinals lineup:

Kyle Hendricks, RHP vs. Adam Wainwright, RHP

Kyle Hendricks keeps cranking out good outings and wins. Over his last 15 starts since the beginning of May the Cubs are 12-3.

He threw six solid innings against the Cardinals July 9 at Wrigley Field and in his career he has a 2.82 ERA and 1.061 WHIP in 23 starts against them. Those numbers are a bit better in St. Louis: nine career starts at Busch Stadium, 2.73 ERA, 1.089 WHIP. He nearly threw a no-hitter there in 2016.

Just keep up the good work, Kyle.

Statcast

This is Adam Wainwright’s 44th career start against the Cubs. That ties him with Tom Seaver for fourth-most against the Cubs in the divisional play era (since 1969). The four ahead of Wainwright, two of whom he might catch before 2021 ends: Steve Rogers (45), Phil Niekro (46), Bob Forsch (49) and Steve Carlton (65).

Wainwright turns 40 next month, but is still pitching well. He’s the only St. Louis starter who hasn’t missed a start due to injury this year. He shut the Cubs down on one hit in eight innings May 23 in St. Louis, though the Cubs won the game in extra innings.

Ian Happ has had particular success against him: 8-for-17 with four home runs.

Statcast

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

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.