Chicago Cubs vs. Arizona Diamondbacks preview, Friday 7/23, 1:20 CT

Friday notes (and these aren’t pretty) ...

• THE (NON) WALKING CUBS: The Cubs have walked 305 times through 97 games, 3.14 walks per game. That is a pace for 509, which would be the team’s lowest 162-game total since 1967 (also 509) — that, in a much lower-offense era. This is one big reason for the lack of scoring.
• POWER OUTAGE: The Cubs’ SLG entering today is .390. The team hasn’t had a SLG that low since 2013, when it was .392. That team lost 96 games. As recently as two years ago the team SLG was .452.
• BAD PITCHING, PART 1: The Cubs’ team ERA is 4.09. The last time a Cubs team had a higher ERA was 2012 (4.51), and I don’t think I need to remind you what happened that year.
• BAD PITCHING, PART 2: Cubs starters have a 4.64 ERA. Only the awful Diamondbacks (5.35) and Pirates (5.36) are worse.

Here are today’s particulars.

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

Diamondbacks lineup:

Zach Davies, RHP vs. Zac Gallen, RHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

Hey, look! Zach vs. Zac. So ... at least there’s something fun about today’s matchup.

Zach Davies. Five innings, four runs. How many times this year do you think he’s had that exact pitching line?

The answer is zero, but doesn’t it FEEL like he’s done that just about every time out?

Last Sunday in Arizona Davies threw 4⅔ innings, allowed six hits and four walks and threw what seemed like a zillion pitches, but was “only” 78. He’s had a lot of those outings, too. Somehow the D-backs only scored two runs off all that.

That’s about all I’ve got. Hopefully it goes better today.

Statcast

Zac Gallen came off the injured list and threw 5⅔ solid innings against the Cubs last Saturday in Phoenix: three hits, one run, seven strikeouts.

He’s probably the D-backs’ best starting pitcher, so this will not be an easy time this afternoon.

Statcast

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 Diamondbacks market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Diamondbacks site AZ Snakepit. If you do go there to interact with D-Backs 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.