Chicago Cubs vs. Colorado Rockies preview, Tuesday 8/3, 7:40 CT

Tuesday notes...

• SCORE SOME RUNS!: The Cubs are 40-15 when scoring four or more runs in a game this season but are 11-41 when scoring three or fewer runs.
• THE LATEST CUBS HERO: Rafael Ortega finished Sunday’s tilt 4-for-4 with three runs, three homers and five RBI. He was the first Cubs leadoff hitter with at least four hits and five RBI in a game since Alfonso Soriano was 4-for-5 with four runs, three homers and five RBI, September 6, 2008, in Cincinnati.
• MORE ORTEGA: He has hit .438/.481/.813 (21-for-48) with four doubles, a triple, four home runs, 10 RBI and four walks in his last 16 games since July 17.
• THE NEW GUYS: Ten players have made their major league debuts with the Cubs this season: RHP Justin Steele (4/12 at Milwaukee), RHP Trevor Megill (4/26 at Atlanta), RHP Keegan Thompson (5/2 at Cincinnati), RHP Tommy Nance (5/17 vs. Washington at Wrigley), C P.J. Higgins (5/19 vs. Washington at Wrigley), RHP Kohl Stewart (5/31 vs. San Diego at Wrigley), RHP Cory Abbott (6/5 at San Francisco), C Taylor Gushue (6/30 @ Mikwaukee), RHP Michael Rucker and RHP Manuel Rodriguez (7/31 at Washington). The 10 major league debuts are Chicago’s most since 10 in 2014. The last time with more: 13 Cubs made their big league debuts in 2012.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Rockies lineup:

Also of interest (time listed is ET):

Zach Davies, RHP vs. Kyle Freeland, LHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

Zach Davies’ numbers since the beginning of May are still decent: 17 starts, 3.31 ERA, just seven HR in 89⅔ innings. I think most of us are surprised to still see him in a Cubs uniform after the trade deadline, there must have been no reasonable offers for him.

Davies faced the Rox three times last year and... actually did pretty well, 3.24 ERA and 1.140 WHIP — but five home runs in 16⅔ innings. In Coors Field... yikes, that could wind up being ugly. OTOH, in three career starts in Coors Field he has a 2.30 ERA and 0.957 WHIP.

So, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Statcast

Kyle Freeland, who finished seventh in Rookie of the Year voting in 2017 and fourth in Cy Young balloting in 2018, has fallen on hard times since then. In 47 starts since the start of 2019, he has a 5.44 ERA and 1.504 WHIP and 45 home runs allowed in 236⅔ innings.

His last seven starts, though, have been very good: 1.98 ERA, 1.073 WHIP, just two home runs in 41 innings.

He has faced the Cubs just twice, last in 2018, and... well, only Ian Happ and Willson Contreras remain on the Cubs roster from that game.

So again, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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 Rockies site Purple Row. If you do go there to interact with Rockies 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.