Chicago Cubs vs. Minnesota Twins preview, Tuesday 8/31, 7:10 CT

A bit of Cubs news:

Tuesday notes...

• SWEET HOME CHICAGO: Tonight and tomorrow night in Minnesota are the only two contests in a 21-game stretch that sees the Cubs play outside the city limits of Chicago through September 12. So far in that span the team is 3-6.
• IT’S BEEN A WHILE: This marks the Cubs’ first visit to Target Field in 2,263 days (or six years, two months and 10 days) since June 21, 2015 when the teams wrapped up a three-game series in Minneapolis, the Cubs winning two of three. All-time against the Twins in Minnesota, the Cubs are 6-9. That breaks down to 3-6 at the Metrodome and 3-3 in Target Field.
• WORDS OF WISDOM: Patrick Wisdom’s 25 home runs (in 254 AB) this season lead NL rookies and are tied for second among all rookies with Ryan Mountcastle (417 AB) and four behind Adolis Garcia (29 HR in 467 AB). Wisdom’s .899 OPS leads all rookies (min. 275 PA), ahead of Jonathan India (.835).
• DH NOTES: Cubs designated hitters are hitting .249 (242-for-971) with 43 home runs and 154 RBI in 254 games all-time. In 2021, Cubs DHs have batted .212 (7-for-33) with one home run and three RBI in eight games.

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Twins lineup:

Zach Davies, RHP vs. John Gant, RHP

USA TODAY Sports

USA TODAY NETWORK

Hey, it’s almost September, and thus we are closer to the time where we can say goodbye to Zach Davies. I’m sure he’s a great guy but I just do not want to see him pitch for the Cubs anymore.

The last time he faced the Twins was May 28, 2019 when he was with the Brewers. He threw six shutout innings. That’s good! Do I think that will happen again? No, I do not. Current Twins, in a small sample size, are hitting .423 (11-for-26) against him.

Good luck, Zach. You’re gonna need it.

Statcast

Hey, you remember John Gant, the guy who was leading MLB in walks when he was with the Cardinals. The Twins got him for J.A. Happ at the trading deadline.

In particular, you might remember his start June 12 at Wrigley Field, where in the second inning he had this sequence of hitters: Walk, home run, walk, walk, walk, fly out, walk, upon which he was removed from the game.

Gant was a bit better at not walking hitters while the Twins used him in relief, but then he started last Thursday against the Red Sox and... uh-oh, four innings, three hits, three walks, four runs.

Cubs hitters are advised to be patient tonight.

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.