Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers preview, Wednesday 8/11, 7:05 CT

Wednesday notes...

• MORE RAIN: You tired of all these storms? I’m sure the Cubs and Brewers are. More storms are expected this evening, so here’s the local radar for you to keep handy:

• IT MIGHT BE A MIRAGE, BUT...: In 25 games (21 starts) since the All-Star break, Rafael Ortega is hitting .410/.459/.654 (32-for-78) with five doubles, a triple and four home runs. He’s also stolen five bases in that span.
• MAYBE HE’S GOOD AFTER ALL: In 11 appearances since the All-Star break, Adam Morgan has posted a 1.00 ERA and 0.889 WHIP in nine innings, with 13 strikeouts.
• THE NEW GUY: Codi Heuer has not allowed a run in four appearances (four innings) with the Cubs, and including his time with the White Sox, since June 18 he has a 2.25 ERA, 1.250 WHIP and a .218 opponent BA in 18 appearances covering 16 innings.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Brewers lineup:

Jake Arrieta, RHP vs. Corbin Burnes, RHP

In Jake Arrieta’s last start vs. the Brewers, he was staked to a 7-0 lead before he threw a pitch.

Well, you know what happened. He coughed up that lead before he could record six outs.

Yikes. Jake’s last seven starts: 9.62 ERA, 2.260 WHIP, 10 (!) home runs in 24⅓ innings. (Note: That WHIP equates to 55 baserunners over that span.)

I don’t feel good telling you all this. There are so many good memories from Jake’s Cubs career, but this is just embarrassing. The Cubs should shut him down and replace him in the rotation with Keegan Thompson.

Statcast

Corbin Burnes is one of the biggest reasons the Brewers are having the great season they are. In 19 starts he’s got a 2.39 ERA and 0.965 WHIP and is leading MLB in FIP, strikeouts/nine innings and strikeout/walk ratio and has allowed just five home runs in 113 innings.

Against the Cubs in 2021: six two-hit innings with 10 strikeouts April 14 in Milwaukee. And that was against the Cubs before the selloff. Burnes’ last seven starts: 2.03 ERA, 0.992 WHIP, .210 opponent BA, .531 opponent OPS.

Clearly, we are doomed.

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

Please visit our SB Nation Brewers site Brew Crew Ball. If you do go there to interact with Brewers 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.