Chicago Cubs vs. Philadelphia Phillies preview, Wednesday 7/7, 7:05 CT

Today's roster move: Here

Wednesday notes:

• LOSING STREAK FACTS: Five of the 11 losses in this skid have been by a single run, including all three contests of last weekend’s Reds series. During the 11-game slide, Cubs hitters have batted .224 (81-for-362) with a .306 OBP and a .670 OPS. Cubs pitchers have posted a 6.75 ERA (68 earned runs in 90⅔ innings).
• CATCHERS: Robinson Chirinos is the seventh catcher for the Cubs this season. The team has now used at least seven catchers in a season nine times, most recently in 2017. The club record for catchers used in a season is eight, in 1885, 1916 and 1960.
• NO BROTHERLY LOVE: The Cubs have now lost six straight games to the Phillies dating to May 23, 2019. That’s the first time the Cubs have lost that many games in a row to the Phillies since a seven-game skid from May 31, 1994-June 1, 1995.
• FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE: Tuesday’s loss and a win by the Cardinals dropped the Cubs into fourth place in the NL Central for the first time since May 16. As bad as the 11-game losing streak is, the Cubs are 23-24 since that date.

Also, in case you were wondering:

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Phillies lineup:

Alec Mills, RHP vs. Zack Wheeler, RHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

You know, Alec Mills hasn’t gone deep into any of his last three starts, but the results have been decent: 2.45 ERA, 1.296 WHIP, no home runs in 14⅔ innings.

Mills has one career outing vs. the Phillies — of all things, a six-inning relief appearance in a game where Cole Hamels got torched early, August 14, 2019 in Philadelphia. Overall it was pretty good — three runs allowed, four strikeouts — but he did allow home runs to Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto.

I’d settle for a six-inning, three-run outing tonight.

Zack Wheeler got big money from the Phillies and basically, he’s been worth it, finally doing what many thought he would before injuries derailed his Mets career.

He’s leading MLB in innings and strikeouts entering tonight’s game.

Uh-oh. Strikeouts. That’s not good news for the Cubs, I don’t think.

The last time he faced the Cubs was June 22, 2019 when he was with the Mets — seven innings, five hits, one run.

Clearly, we are doomed.

Statcast

Statcast

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

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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.